Will be Loved
by SMARTCUTEFUNNYXD
Summary: When Renee decides that she can't provide for Bella as a single mom after leaving Charlie, she gives her to the one person she trusts: Carlisle. A series of one-shots based on Bella's life with the Cullens'. Please read and review! On hiatus...-ish?
1. Prolouge 1

**Okay, this story is going be a series of one-shots about Bella's life as the eighth Cullen. Each chapter, apart from the first two, will be a year from her life. Various POV's. Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer:**

**Sadly, I don't own Twilight. But if I did, I would be stinking rich enough to own this website and all rights to every story and its representation of every character... LOL what?**

****This story is written where Carlisle's coven lives in Forks 18 years before they do in the book, just in case anyone is wondering :)**

Renee's POV

It was time. I couldn't stay in Forks any longer. I had made my decision a long time ago, and it was now or never. I couldn't stand the house, which despite my efforts to brighten up remained dreary and drab. I couldn't stand the sight of Charlie's face, peeking down at our baby, cooing softly. I couldn't stand the entire town! There were no secrets; everything you had done was out in the open. I needed my space sometimes, and you couldn't get it in a place this small. So I was leaving. I was going to go somewhere south, somewhere warm; maybe Los Angeles or Phoenix. I wanted to see the sun, not a faint shadow of it behind the clouds. I'd start over, a clean slate. I knew it was a cliché, a married couple trying to make it work by moving to a different place and starting over, but I was different. I was going alone.

My Bella; My baby, the one I loved too much. She was sweet, three months old and already beginning to recognize me and Charlie as her parents. She loved being touched, and she was starting to make little gurgling noises. She was the cutest thing, and she was intelligent. Whenever I was doing some chores around the house, she would follow me, crawling as fast as her hands and knees could take her. She would look up at me, washing the dishes, and her little brow would furrow, as if in concentration. I'd tell her what I was doing, and her face was so serious, staring back at me, it looked like she actually knew what I was talking about. In truth, she probably didn't have a clue what I was saying, but it was her way of saying she knew that I was talking to her. It broke my heart to know that soon, most of her world would shatter.

I couldn't take her with me. This was probably the hardest move I would have to make in my life, but I couldn't. The fact was just that I was too young. I always had been. I had married Charlie at nineteen, about one month pregnant with Bella, though I hadn't known it at the time. I thought I was in love, but I hadn't been after all. If I took her with me, I wouldn't be able to take care of her. I would have to work full time to support us, and then I would be unable to take care of her. I couldn't hire a full time sitter, that would be too costly and I would never get to see her. This wouldn't be good for her, and I was trying to make her life as good as possible. But I didn't want to leave her with Charlie, because I knew that he wouldn't be able to handle her. He wasn't of the parenting type, and we both knew that. I took care of Bella mostly; he usually just fed her once or twice or occasionally changed her diaper. This didn't mean that he loved her less, just that he couldn't take care of her on his own. I didn't want to burden him with that, because I knew he also worked full time. But on the other hand, I didn't want to put her up for adoption. The thought of my baby girl, my Bella, in the hands of a complete stranger, was enough to make me sick. So what did I do?

I had been stuck on this question for weeks, speculating over what I would do. Then, sitting in the armchair, rocking Bella, who was asleep, taking her afternoon nap, it came to me. I wasn't entirely sure it would work, and there was a strong possibility that if it didn't, I would be forced to put her up for adoption. That choice would break me, and I didn't want to do that, ever. So I had to try my option, the only one I had then. I was going to ask Carlisle to adopt my baby. The idea was absolutely insane, but I had to. Carlisle was the doctor that had monitored my pregnancy, and so he already knew about her. While he had been checking up on my baby, we had talked. He told me a little about his adoptive children, and I had listened, intrigued. He and Esme were unable to have children, he told me, and so they had adopted. They figured that they might as well help someone because of their dilemma. He told me that they loved each of their children like they were their own, and from the way it sounded, I might have believed that they weren't adopted at all. Looking back, I realized that if he accepted all the hard responsibility of taking in my child, she would have a great home. But even then, this was huge. It wasn't just asking him to take care of a pet for a week, this was a child! My child! But he was my absolute last hope, and I had to try. I decided that I would have to leave Charlie first, because I wouldn't want to leave and have him wondering what had become of our child. I'd take her with me, and then ask Carlisle to take my daughter. If he refused, which I knew in my heart would be most likely, then I'd take her to the nearest adoption agency. I'd ask them to keep it private, to not tell anyone. I was pretty sure there was some sort of a privacy policy, but they might put out a notice. I guess I'd tell them that I had run away with her and couldn't take care of her…

I sat there for the duration of Bella's nap, planning out what I would do and making back-up plans, going over every detail, making sure that Bella would be safe and in good hands the whole way. I stroked her hair while she slept, and as I thought about the beautiful little girl I would have to leave behind me, I cried. It started with one tear, a tiny drop of water just running in a single line down my cheek. It dropped, and I watched it fall. Then, before I could stop it, a whole cascade of them wet my cheeks and turned my eyes red. Quiet sobs wracked my body, and I tried to not move so much, so I wouldn't wake her. When I managed that, I was too tired to try and stop the tears. So I clutched her tighter to my chest and asked God why this was so hard. She shouldn't have been born in to a world where she would have to face separation from her parents. I cried for my mistake that she would have to pay for. I didn't regret for one second that she was alive, only that she would have to go through more pain than someone as small as her should have to. I buried my face in her hair and took in a deep breath, committing to memory the sweet smell of her. And before I even realized what was happening, I was crying again, this time with louder sobs and even more tears. _No! _My mind cried out. _This was my baby! I couldn't leave her!_ I gently set her down on to the couch so my cries wouldn't wake her with the movement, and then returned to the chair. I buried my head in my hands. What was I going to do? I loved her too much to let her go, but I couldn't take her with me. It was an impasse, and I couldn't bring myself to get out of it. My Bella would be in a bad situation if she came with me, and she would be better off if Carlisle would take her, or even an adoption agency. She could be someone else's little angel, someone else's daughter they had dreamt of. Another huge round of sobs wracked my body, and I curled in to myself, bent double, as if to hide from the pain. But I couldn't hide; I had to be strong and brave for Bella. All this was resting on her, on whether she made it in to a good place after this or not. _Come on, be strong. Fight through this, you'll make it. _I steeled myself with these thoughts, and sat up straight. My sobs quieted, and the tears subsided. After I had control of myself, I walked back over to the couch where Bella was still lying, unaffected by emotional breakdown. I picked her back up and held her to my chest, rocking her softly. I had to get through this for her. I just had to.

About a week later, I was ready. It was around five in the evening, and Charlie would be home soon. Bella was awake, and she was resting in my arms. I was sitting in the armchair, and I had made sure my bag and hers were stowed safely away in the tiny little Toyota I had bought when I graduated. For a moment, I was taken aback. I graduated little more than a year ago! I was only twenty! What was I doing? My breath came in a gasp, and if I hadn't been holding Bella, I would have clutched at my heart. I was too young for this! I can't be a mother! Then I remembered that I would be more of an ex-mother soon, and some tears sprang to my eyes. But I blinked hard several times, and they cleared. There would be time for crying later, I reminded myself. So the moment passed, and I returned to my previous state of anxiety.

I was hyper-aware that this would probably be the last normal time I would hold my daughter. A part of me wanted to break down and start crying again at this, but I shushed that part again and locked it down inside me. I had my traveling coat on, and Bella had her little jacket on. Her bag was separate from mine, and it had everything she would need. A passport, a few sets of clothes, some diapers, and a can of formula. Also, there was a letter from me in there. When, and if, she learned to read, she would be able to understand it. Or at least get someone to read it to her. It would tell her why I had to leave her, and how much I still loved her. I didn't want her to be like those poor children whose mothers didn't even want to know them. I didn't want her to grow up alone, so to speak. I'd tell whoever got her about it, so they could still read it to her right now. She'd have it memorized from a young age. In my pocket, I had one other letter. It would only get delivered in one instance. If Carlisle did adopt her after all, then I would give it to him.

Just then, I heard the click of the lock turning. A small shudder passed through me, and I knew what I was about to do would be hard. Charlie walked in, and smiled when he saw me and Bella sitting in the armchair.

"Hey, babe. How was your day?" He stooped to kiss me, and for a moment I kissed him back, wanting to remember this last moment with him. He pulled back, and that's when he noticed what we were wearing.

"You guys going somewhere?" His brow creased, his eyes narrowing. I sighed, and thought, _here we go. _

"Charlie," I began, then stopped, because I didn't know how to go on. Oh God, what was I doing? I was going to break him! _But you already made this choice_, an annoying little voice inside my head said. _You have to follow through with this_.

"Charlie, we're leaving." There. It was out, I had said it. His eyes narrowed further, and I saw a dark shadow pass over his face.

"What do you mean?" He asked. I sighed again.

"I mean Bella and I are leaving. I can't stay here any more. I can't live in a small town!" He blew out a breath as he realized exactly where I was going with this.

"Don't go! We can move, go somewhere else…" He faltered as he saw the look in my eyes.

"That's not just it. I just can't take it! Charlie, we're too young! I don't want to try and make this work, I want to be free! I don't want to be tied down now! I have to get out, and I'm not going to leave Bella behind!" He took a step back, looking shocked, then came forward again, his face contorted with rage.

"So you think you're just going to walk out on me with our daughter? She's as much mine as she is yours! Remember?" I shook my head at this, and knew I would have to hurt him even more then I had originally planned for. I didn't want to hurt him that much, because I knew that he was a nice guy and I didn't want him to feel a lot of pain. I was trying to make this as easy as possible on everyone. But to get out of here, I'd really have to make it hurt for him.

"Oh yeah?" I snarled back, making the words sting. "Like what? Changing a diaper every other day? Playing with her while I make dinner? Charlie, I do the work with her, you just bring home the paycheck." He gasped at this, and then his face turned red.

"So what do you plan on doing with her? Hiring a _sitter_? Where would you get the money to do that?" He was playing the money card, which I knew he would.

"I'll manage," I muttered, and knew that I wouldn't actually have to worry about providing for her.

"Where are you taking my daughter?" He suddenly roared, and I returned with as much force as I could manage.

"Somewhere you'll never find us! Now, try to look for us, and you'll not see your daughter outside of court!" He gaped at me like a fish, and I almost apologized. Almost. He opened his mouth to say something, and I stopped him.

"Just let me go, Charlie. It didn't work out, okay? I really, really _hate _Forks!" With that, I wrenched open the door and strode out in to the darkening sunset, leaving a shell-shocked Charlie in my wake. It was cold outside, and I held Bella tighter to my chest. I wanted to keep her warm, and I knew I had a blanket in the car. I unlocked the car, and carefully strapped her in to her car seat. I grabbed the blanket off the seat next to her and draped it over her small body. The expression on her face was surprised, like she didn't know what just happened. That made two of us. I closed the door and got in to the drivers' side, and didn't look back to the house I had just walked out of. Because I knew that if I did, I would see Charlie's face still looking out the door to where I used to be, even long after I was gone.

As I drove down the street, I willed the tears back. They wanted to come, but I kept up my mantra of, _not now, not yet_, going inside my head. The first hurdle was over. I had left Charlie. It hurt, badly now that I stopped to think about it, and I didn't want to feel it right now. Because I knew if I did, I'd never make it. _Later, just later_. I turned off the road hat had become familiar to me, and down the main highway. I turned around at the stoplight to check on Bella, and she was fine. Her chocolate brown eyes glowed in the semi-darkness in the back of the car, and her breath came regularly. My little baby; my sweet angel. For about the hundredth time that night, I wondered how I was going to make it through this. How was I supposed to just hand over my baby, forever? I knew a lot of moms do it every day, just turn away from the one they carried inside them for so long, like they mean nothing to them. It was people like that that made me sick. Those poor children, growing up without a mom figure. I didn't want that to happen to Bella. I turned back around just as the light turned green and I stepped on the gas. Now that I was out of the gate, I wanted to see if my first, only, and best option would work. I looked for the turnoff that would mark the way to the hospital, and when I found it, I took it slowly, as I didn't want to scare Bella. I drove up the slightly winding road, and I didn't think at all. I didn't want to replay Charlie's final scene with me, and I didn't want to think about what would happen if Dr. Cullen refused to take her; which was likely anyways. I just didn't want to feel the horror over what I was doing. I wanted to feel numb, and through unspoken prayer to God, I begged for it. Amazingly, He answered. I felt some of the shock and fears subside, though only by a bit. Still, it was enough for me to feel relatively under control.

I pulled in to the parking lot, which was nearly devoid of cars. I saw only about two or three. One of them must have been the doctor's, because there was no staff parking lot. The fact no patient or visitor was there amazed me, and I saw it as an omen. This was meant to happen. I parked up close, and cut the engine. I took in a deep breath, and took one last look at Bella, sitting in the back seat. I breathed out, and stepped out of the car. I got my baby out, carefully holding her close to me while arranging her blanket around her, and I took out the backpack that held her things. I slung one strap over my shoulder, and then straightened up. I closed the door behind me, and looked up to the hospital looming like a giant, standing above us.

"Here we go," I whispered to Bella, and when I looked down to her, she was wearing her serious face.

Carlisle's POV

I was finishing some charts at the nurses' station on the ground floor, thinking about a surgery I was going to do the next day. It had been pretty quiet here for the past hour or so. No new ER admittances, none of the long term patients had any complaints. There was literally nothing to do. Nothing but sit around and do charts. Doing nothing was not something I did very often, and it kind of annoyed me. There was always _something _to do, right? Something you could do other than breathe or think or sit. Only one part of my mind was on the charts, the other was at home, with my wife and children. Sitting with my Esme on the couch, watching Emmett challenge Jasper to a wrestling match, or listening to Edward play the piano, or hearing Rosalie and Alice talking about shopping plans or something. It was all so relaxing, just watching my family do what they liked. I had been so caught up in my own world that I almost didn't notice someone movie outside. My eyes snapped up, and I remembered just in time to move my head up slower, like a human, in case anyone was watching. My eyes zoomed in on a medium height figure, and I immediately recognized it as a person, Renée Swan. She was the chief of polices' wife, and she had a three month old daughter named Isabella, though Renée preferred Bella. I had been the doctor assigned to her pregnancy, and had followed it through the end. She had a check-up next week, in fact. I wondered what she was doing here at this time in the evening, and why she was carrying Bella with her. She approached the front doors of the hospital, and they opened automatically. I stood up and moved over to her. I smiled, and greeted her.

"Hello, Mrs. Swan. Hello Bella." I greeted her daughter separately, because I knew Renée would smile at it. But tonight, she didn't smile, and my vampire vision detected a slight shiver as I called her, "Mrs. Swan." What was going on?

"Please, have a seat." I gestured to the chairs off to my right, the ones used for people waiting for news from their loved ones. She walked over to them, and I sensed an uncomfortable feeling coming from her. She sat down in one across from me, and looked down at Bella, who was playing with a strand of her hair.

"So," I said. "What brings you here at this time?" She looked up at me, and in her eyes I saw pain. It was the kind that makes you think the person is wise, because you have to have been through a lot to take on that look. Her entire face, which was normally a childish, laughing face, looked darker, gaunter. She took a deep breath, like she was trying to figure out how to start, and then blinked.

"Dr. Cullen, I have to ask you to do something for me. I know that it's stupid, and pointless, and it's really not going to work, but I have to ask, for the sake of my daughter." She stopped, and I took a second to think about where she was heading with this.

"You can ask me anything." I said kindly, and she closed her eyes.

"This is really important, so please, don't immediately shoot it down; just hear me out first, okay?" she opened her eyes to look at me, and I nodded, so she continued. "Your sons and daughters are adopted, correct?" I nodded, still clueless as to what this was leading to. She sighed one last time, and then she said the words that changed my life forever.

"I need you to adopt my daughter."

My eyes widened so big, that if it had been anatomically possible, they would have literally fallen out. I blinked, and stared at her. I would have been able to tell if she were on drugs, because I would have been able to smell it. She was completely sane, and she had just asked me to adopt her own daughter.

"Mrs. Swan, may I ask what happened tonight that made you ask me that?" She closed her eyes again, and when she looked up, they were sparkling with tears. I grabbed a Kleenex from the box on the table in front of us and offered it to her. I was careful to make sure our hands never touched, so she wouldn't feel my ice cold skin. She took it and dabbed at her eyes, and bounced Bella gently in her lap.

"Tonight I left Charlie. I can't live in a small town, I can't be with him, I'm just too young to settle down!" I nodded to this, and she continued. "I didn't want to leave him to take care of Bella, because I know he barely makes it even with my help. He can't do diapers very well, or feed her… you get the picture. So I took her with me, but I don't plan on moving to a new place with her. I love her, so, so much, but I just can't provide for her. I'd have no money if I stayed home to take care of her, and not enough saved to rent a hotel room, let alone hire a full time nanny. It would just be life in a homeless shelter, and I want much more for my little girl. I don't want to leave her in an adoption agency but if you refuse to take her in, that's what I'll have to do. I asked you because I know you have experience with adopting, and you're the most trustworthy person I know. I'm aware that adopting a child isn't just like taking care of a pet for a week, or something like that, it's a full time responsibility. But I want her to have the best life possible, and if that means flat out asking my doctor to adopt my baby, then so be it. I just want her to be in a better place than with a rough orphanage, or a foster home. And yes, I know you're going to say no, but I had to ask. Because if I didn't, I'd spend my whole life wondering if she could have been better off if I had made a different decision."

She finished her speech, and then sat back in the chair with her arms wrapped around her child. All I could do was stare at the wall while I ran over all this in my head. What was I supposed to do? I wanted to help her and Bella, I really did! But I had to think of the rest of my family? What about Jasper? Would he be able to resist his bloodlust? Bella would be in constant danger. I knew that Esme, Rosalie, and Alice would be delighted to have a baby. And what about the entire problem of vampirism? If she were to live with us, her knowing our secret, the Volturi would be on us in a flash! My head spun in circles for what seemed like forever, though in reality lasted only about a minute. I finally rested my gaze on Renée, and she was watching Bella bat her mom's hair around. When she felt my gaze, she met it with a hard look that told me she would do whatever was best for her baby. But was giving it to a coven of strangely moral vampires that, despite their best efforts, may lose the fight against bloodlust, really the best thing? Her eyes said yes, though she was unaware of our secret. But what she said next changed what I thought about it, and it changed my decision.

"You have to do for her what no one else can do. You have something that can help her, and I don't know whether it's your family, or a talent you have, but she'll have the best possible life with you." Renée's words rocked me to the core, which is a hard thing to do. She had some sort of premonition; she could sense something out of the ordinary about me and my family. She couldn't begin to guess what we really were, but she knew there was just something about us. But what really shook me was that her first sentence was almost verbatim what Elizabeth Mason had said to me about her dying son. I knew better, I knew it was more than just my decision here, but I had to. It wasn't a choice anymore.

"Mrs. Swan," I started, but stopped when I realized that though she and Charlie were now separated, but not yet divorced, she wouldn't want his last name attached to hers. So instead, I used her first name.

"Renée, you do know that you'll have to go through a lot of legal work with this, giving me custody of your daughter even though you don't exactly own her yet?" But the only part she heard was "Giving me." She gasped, and held her tissue to her eyes again. Her breath came faster, and I heard her heart accelerate.

"Oh," was all she could say. I stared solemnly back at her, though a smile was steadily working its way to my lips.

"Thank you!" She finally managed to say, and I just smiled.

"Now, I have to talk to you seriously. Bella is being adopted in to my family, am I correct?" She nodded eagerly, and I went on.

"So you have to work out whether you want her to keep the Swan last name, or Cullen." She didn't hesitate at all when she said, "Cullen."

"I don't want anyone to really question where she came from, if you're planning on moving to avoid attention. I just want her to be a part of your family." I bobbed my head to show I understood, and moved on to the next thing.

"Okay, so if she's going to be a Cullen, part of my family, then she'll need a passport and letter from you stating that…" my sentence peeled off as she took out a passport and a letter, which, upon closer inspection, was revealed to be a letter giving me permission to take care of her daughter until it became legal in court. I gave her a quizzical look, and she told me that she had planned this out before, because she didn't want to delay anything in case I did say yes. I was surprised at the amount of planning she had put in to this. In the next half hour, we discussed everything about Bella's adoption, and at the end I thanked her.

"For what? I'm the one that needed the help." Was her response to that.

"For giving my family a daughter, a little sister, and someone else to love." A smile punctuated my words, and her eyes shone with tears again. She drew in a shaky breath, and got up, still holding her daughter.

"Inside her bag, it's a letter from me to her. It's just telling her why I had to leave her. I told you so you know that if she ever starts missing me, just read that to her and tell her it's from me. She won't understand what it means for a good while, but it'll be comforting to her." She gave a little smile, and adjusted Bella on her hip. "Oh! One more thing, before I forget…" She reached inside her jacket pocket, and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper, and handed it to me.

"This is for you and your family." I opened the letter, and inside found two pages filled up with writing. Her script was curly, done with the utmost care a human could do, but still nothing compared to vampire handwriting. Not that it mattered or I cared. It was all things about Bella, which blanket she liked best, the position that made her fall asleep the quickest. Everything she could think of she had put there, and I could see some faintly wet spots on it, where her tears had fallen, though she had obviously tried to hold them back.

I looked back to her, and she was beaming me a watery smile.

"It's all I know about Bella. She can read it too, when she gets older. Just so you, her, and your family all know that I do love her and care about her. That I didn't just dump her off and never look back or care what happened to her." I looked at her steadily, and said, "I never doubted that for a second." She just shook her head, and said, "Just in case anyone else doubted it, I had to write it." We stood there for another minute, just lost in our own thoughts, when she finally spoke again.

"I had better get going. Do you want her tonight…?" She let her sentence trail off, and I debated it internally for a minute. "Would a bit later, or maybe even tomorrow be okay? I know you want to leave as soon as you can, but I do need time to ready my family. And also, they might want to have their say. I know that I already agreed to adopt her, but I don't want to force them in to anything they don't want." She bit her lip and looked up, then said, "Can I wait here? You can come back here when you're done telling your family." My brow furrowed, and I said, "You stay here alone? It's getting kind of late." Rene shook me off, replying, "It's a hospital, not a dark alley in the outskirts of town. I'll be fine." I said, "Alright then, I'll see you soon." She thanked me, again, for agreeing to this, and I replied with, "You're welcome." She sat back down, and I stood up. I nodded to her, grabbed my bag from behind the front desk, said goodbye, and walked out the front steps.

Once outside, I pulled out my mobile phone from my bag. It had cost a lot, but it was convenient and price wasn't really that big a concern for me. I dialed the house line and waited only half a ring for it to be picked up, thanks to Alice and vampire speed. Alice. Everyone probably knew all about Bella by now, and I was a bit late in realizing this. She hadn't seen this until I had made the decision to keep Bella. So she had probably had a vision about an hour or so ago, and I knew that some of my family members had been planning to hunt tonight. I hoped they were back. All this ran through my mind in the space of a millisecond, and then I quickly spoke in to the receiver of the phone.

"Did anyone go hunting?" My words came out so fast and low that all a human would have seen was a slight vibration of my lips. Alice answered immediately, "Yes, Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper and Edward will be back in a few minutes." Even though she asked no question, I could hear the burning to ask it in her voice.

"I'll explain at home. Make sure everyone is there. There's going to be a family meeting. Now."

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	2. Prolouge 2

**Alright people. I was very happy at the responses on just the first 24 hours of this story. I got eleven reviews and alerts, and eight favorites. I am amazed by the love this story has gotten, and I really don't want to disappoint you guys on this next chapter. So, same as will soon be the usual, please read it and review it; and favorite or alert either me or the story. Reviews are definitely appreciated a lot :) Thanks for all the love, and enjoy this next chapter! And this is just a heads up: I'm might change her vampire ability, maybe, depending on what I decide in the end... this is just so everyone knows. I'll post this message again if I actually do change something. Just a heads up :)**

Carlisle's POV

As I got in to my car, I thought about how my family would take the news. I really doubted that Jasper would be jumping up and down with joy, but Esme and Rosalie would definitely be all over this. After all, they had always wanted children. Alice would probably love having a new dress up model to play with, and Emmett would go along with whatever Rose liked. Edward was the only one I was unsure about. I just didn't know how he'd react to having someone new in the house. But before they would ever feel any of this, they'd have to go through the shock of having a human around. For one thing, we'd have to be a lot more careful around Bella, with our strength. One false move and she could be crushed. Also, our bloodlust would probably affect a lot of how we would act around her. Jasper would have the hardest time, and this was something I was concerned about. He'd have to go hunting very often, and even then he'd have to stay pretty far away from Bella. In fact, we'd all have to hunt more often, and just take precautions. Small children did tend to get a lot of cuts and scrapes, and even the slightest amount more of blood in the open could push anyone over the edge. In short, we would have to be extremely cautious.

By now I was sitting in my car, key in the ignition, but the engine was off. I mentally shook myself for wasting time and quickly turned the key. The engine turned over at once, and I could feel the vibration of it in my seat. I loved my car. I put it in to drive and pulled on to the road between the spaces, then exited the parking lot the back way, which put me closer to my home. I could see that no one was on the road, and I cranked my speed up to 100 mph. The rush of the night flying by felt great, and it was as close as I could get to running. I might have run, if Renee hadn't been there and would have seen my car in the lot. It was definitely faster, and would have gotten me home faster.

I had done an experiment a few years back, maybe a decade or so, with Edward, Emmett, and Jasper out in the woods of Montana. We had run pretty far from our home that day, trying to find somewhere remote enough that humans wouldn't notice us. I had bought a radar gun from a local sporting goods store, and I was going to measure how fast a vampire could run. It had been speculated about before, but no one had ever had the technology to measure it before. So I was going to test it myself. I was going to start with Emmett, who was the slowest, but not by much. He nearly passed up Jasper, but an earlier race had claimed Jasper as second fastest of the three brothers. So he was going first. I was standing about two kilometers away from where he was, and Edward would read my mind and tell him when to start. At my signal, he had taken off running as fast as he could. I had the radar gun ready, and when he blew past me, it had measured at around

**(I'm not actually sure of vampire speed, obviously, but this is just a guess. If you know that actual speed then put it in a review please :))** 400 mph. It was right along what I had estimated, and I felt proud to know that I had been right. Next was Jasper, and he was right at 406 mph. He was only fractionally faster than Emmett, which Emmett was happy to hear. Edward, being the fastest of us all, managed an amazing 468 mph! It was incredible, and much more than I had anticipated. Thinking about my cars speed reminded me of that day, and I chuckled again at the memory of how jealous Emmett had looked. Of course, that was before Rosalie reminded of his strength, which led to a whole other experiment…

When I pulled in to the driveway, I could hear one light set of footsteps, Alice's, pacing anxiously inside. I heard only two even breathing sets inside, so the others must not have been back yet. I pulled in to the garage on the side of the house and got out of the car. The next second, I was standing on the front porch. I used my house key and unlocked the door. Why did we even have a lock? We were vampires for crying out loud…

I made my way in to the family room, where I knew Alice, Rosalie, and Esme would be.

I walked in and greeted them, though Rosalie and Esme sent me curious glances. They knew that Alice had seen something, but she had refused to tell them. Hm, wise of her. She probably wanted me to explain, for the family's benefit and hers. She knew what happened, but didn't know why we were getting a little bundle of joy.

The girls had gone hunting the previous week, so they had stayed behind from this hunting trip and let the boys go out and have their fun. They liked to turn mealtime in to a contest to see who got the biggest prey. They would be back very soon, I assumed from Alice's expression. Her face went blank every two seconds, obviously scanning to see how close they were. Edward would probably know exactly what was going on in a matter of seconds if he was as close as I believed him to be. He was probably about to jump the river… jumping… over… at the second I thought them to be over the river, I heard a sight thump that even with vamp hearing, I had to strain to hear. Two seconds later, the door, which I hadn't locked again, (why bother?), opened, and the trio strode in.

Edward was to the right, and his expression was stony. Jasper, on the left, looked confused, most likely because he had felt Edward's emotions before he'd had time to clamp them down. Emmett simply looked ready for a fight, as he always did. He had seen Edward's and Jasper's expressions and assumed it meant an enemy or something similar. They came in and Emmett went to sit by his wife. Jasper stood near Alice, and read her emotions. Apparently it didn't clear anything up for him, as he remained confused. Edward went and sat in his favorite armchair in the corner, and faced me with his arms crossed over his chest. His body language said one word, _explain. _I sighed and went to sit by Esme. This was going to be difficult. I sighed, and then began.

"What if," I started, but couldn't continue. I had to do this, but I just didn't know how to say it. I tried to open my mouth to start again, but the words just wouldn't come. I had no idea how to say this to my family, which surprised me. I was Carlisle, the coven leader, the speaker, and yet I couldn't explain this simple thing to my own family? Okay, maybe it wasn't so simple, but still. I looked to Alice, who stared back at the expression on my face. She had never seen it before. It was the expression of hopelessness. I had no idea how to say this, and she realized that as she stared. She shot me a quick flash of sympathy in her eyes, then turned to face the family.

"I've had a vision," she began, and all six pairs of our eyes were riveted on her, though Edward had seen it all before, and I knew what had happened.

"Someone new is joining our family." We all stiffened, and her next words were like a bomb being dropped. "A human."

There was a collective intake of breath, and then there was silence. Just silence. For about ten seconds that seemed like an eternity, no one spoke. Then, there was one voice that spoke.

"How?" Rosalie's words were directed at me, and in her eyes there was a hope that she almost didn't dare have. I sighed, knowing I would have to recount what Renee had told me and convinced me to do. I began the story, and my family's expression ranged from shock to disbelief to wonder. When I got to the part where she asked if we could take her tonight, I heard an audible _snap. _It was Jaspers' teeth clenching, and when I looked up, his face looked frustrated. I continued my retelling, half my mind on it, and the other thinking about Jasper. How was I going to deal with it? It was going to be an extra challenge, more so than it was for the others. He had the least self control of all of us, and this would put him directly in to the path of temptation, every day. It was going to be very tough for him, and I sincerely hoped I was making the right decision here. I didn't want to cause a family feud with whether or not to keep her, because the decision had been made and there was almost nothing anyone could do. In a way, this would be something of a test for Jasper, to see whether his self control would make it. But I was still unsure of who would win: Jasper's heart, or his bloodlust. Most of the others' bloodlust could be more easily managed, as they had more experience with the vegetarian lifestyle. Edward, apart from me, would be the best at it, for he had been a vampire sixty nine years, that June 20th. **(ZOMG that's the actual age/date XD) **Next would be Esme, though I couldn't imagine her losing control around a child like the one she had wanted for so long. Rosalie would be the same, and Emmett would just see this as a challenge. Alice would be helped along if necessary by Jasper and his mood controlling, but I didn't think we would have to go that far. Alice always had seemed like the type to be a good older sister… Though it was a depressing thought to stoop to, I guessed that if worst came to worst we would be able to restrain Jasper if his thirst got the better of him. By the time I finished my train of thought, I had finished explaining what had gone down in the hospital lobby. Everyone had looks on that told me they wanted to have their say, and I put my hands up like a traffic director.

"One at a time," I told them, and then pointed to Esme. "You first, dear." She nodded her thanks at me, and then turned to include all the vampires here in her gaze.

"I think this is a good idea. I support it because I believe that this will be good for us. We'll have a new little person to take care of, something of another purpose for our lives. If we raise this girl; who would have had an awful life had she stayed with her mother, though she would have been loved; then we're doing something good. Isn't that what we strive to be, why we fight so hard against our nature as vampires? If we raise her, give her a good life, then what's so bad about that? Also, I think that we do need someone more; someone who will ground us when we feel too wrong, too inhuman to fit in; someone who can teach us more about being human and breathe some life in to some undead beings." Esme finished her compassionate speech, and we all would have had tears in our eyes if it were possible. Everything she was saying was true, and it gave me even more reason to trust that what I was doing here was right.

"Okay," I said, and then pointed to Rosalie. "You're next." She tossed her long, blonde back over her shoulder and fixed us all with a steely glare. You didn't have to be a mind reader like Edward to know she was saying mentally, _I'm keeping this baby and nothing you can say will stop me. _She then began talking.

"Most everything I, and Esme for that matter, ever wanted is wrapped up inside that little girl. I myself absolutely cannot fathom what mother could abandon her own child, no matter how bad things got. If I were so lucky to have someone to raise and take care of, I would keep it if I had to go to hell and back for it." No one could doubt that she meant every word she said, myself included.

"If I have to face a burning in my throat every time I hold her, I'll still hold her. If I have to wrinkle my nose at the smell every time she had to be fed, I'll do it, gladly. And when she gets older, I'll be her best friend! Everything she wants me for; to play with, to help pick out her clothes, I'll do! And when she's a bit older than that, and all she really wants is to be alone, I'll walk away if that's what makes her happy. Don't you see? Is it really so hard to fathom that a vampire, stone cold and never moving forward, could raise a human child?" She stopped there, her voice earnest and her eyes shining with an unbridled hope that I had never seen before in her eyes because she had never dared to show it. I thanked her, and thought for a moment. That was the two vampires down that I knew would say yes, and now it was time to focus on the harder hurdles. I inclined my head to Emmett, signaling that he should go next. He would be the easiest, because Rose had already made her side clear and he went with whatever she said.

"I said hell yes!" A big grin punctuated his words, and he continued eagerly. "I've always wanted a new little sister, who I could teach all my tricks to." Rose rolled her eyes at this, and Alice chuckled.

"I mean, I know I can be kind of rowdy sometimes, but I can be careful around her. I can be the best, most fun big brother she could ever have! And sure, I'd have to be careful with my thirst around her, but I can feed more often. We can all do that! And sure, some of the precautions we'll have to take will get tiring sometimes, like being gentle and slow around her, but we can get used to it! She could bring us closer together, kind of like what Esme said; to have something of a common string tying us together. And maybe, just maybe when she's much older, and if she wants to, then she can choose to…" Emmett let his sentence trail off and looked hopefully at me. I blew out a breath and looked up at the ceiling.

"Emmett, you know how I feel about this. I didn't change any of you on a whim, because I just felt like it. I did it because you were dying. I did it because there was nothing left to do. Many would say you'd be better off if you were dead. She'll have her entire life ahead of her, and to end it just like that? So we'll cross that bridge when, or if we come to it." I crossed my arms over my chest, signaling the end of that discussion. Emmett shrugged, and said, "It was just a thought." I moved on to the next easiest person after Emmett, Alice. I said her name, and she dipped her head.

"I think this is a good idea." I smiled internally at her words, knowing that we now had four vampires in support of this, which was a majority. I didn't count myself.

"Having a baby, a human around could be beneficial to us. I don't foresee any immediate trouble, but that might be because we haven't met her yet. Either way, I'd love to have a little sister. I don't remember what being human was like, and having someone to show me would be a great experience for me." She smiled, and Jasper wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Having another family member, especially a human, will probably be a bit of a challenge for all of us. She's so much more fragile, more breakable. Also, our thirst could affect how we interact with her. But these things can be managed. And she could just be a little ray of light in our shrouded lives, so to speak. She could show us the littler things that make her happy, like finishing a puzzle or spelling her name, and we could be happy right along with her. When she starts school, she could tell us all about her day and when we listen and comment on it, she'll be pleased. She might need help on a math problem, and who better to help her than vampires with off the chart IQ's? She could make us focus on the little things too, not just the big picture." By then, I was openly smiling along with Rose and Esme, imagining Bella doing all the things Alice had said. It was a wonderful picture Alice had painted, and now I wanted to witness her growing up more than ever.

So right now, there were four vampires that supported it, each for their own reasons. Esme wanted to keep her because she believed that we would be doing something good by it, and it would tie us together more as a family. Rosalie wanted to keep her because she wanted to be a mother for her, someone who would be there for Bella. Emmett wanted to have some fun with her, be the big brother that I suspected he might have been while he was a human. Alice wanted to watch someone be human, something she hadn't remembered doing when she was one. She thought that we could all appreciate the smaller things in life. So four good ideas were on the table, and now we had to hear from the people I thought would have a harder time saying yes to this. I wanted to get Jasper's opinion on this first; I was curious to hear what he had to say about Bella joining our family. I motioned for him to speak, and he began.

"I'm not sure about the child joining us. I don't have the best self control, and I'm worried about what could happen." Alice looked sympathetically up to her partner, and he looked sadly down to her.

"It's not that I don't want her to stay with us, because believe me, it could really be good for us. I'm just worried for her welfare. What happens if she scrapes her knee, or gets hurt? What happens if her blood spills in front of me?" We all winced a little at that thought, then he continued.

"I just wish that I were more like any of you. With just a few decades or so more experience, this could be safer for her. But it's not that way. And hey, if I make it through this without hurting her, then I've done well! I tested my self control and won! But what if it doesn't work out that way? Let's face it; she'll be in danger if she's around me. I'd have to take more precautions than the rest of you, and if she starts to bleed and I'm myself enough to hold my breath and run away, then I'll feel weak. I'll fee like I'm less worthy be around her." He looked away, and Alice tried to get him to look at her. When he refused, looking in the other direction, she got her determined look in her eyes. She stood on tiptoe to reach him, holding his shoulders and sticking her face close to his.

"Now you listen to me," she said when he finally looked at her.

"I don't want to hear any of this, 'I'm weak, I can't control myself' crap, because that is crap and you know it. You _can _control yourself. You just need a little help sometimes. Really, you're no newborn. They have a much harder time doing that. I don't see anything bad happening right now, and yeah, it may be because you haven't met her yet. But I did see you standing next to her, and you didn't have a problem then. It hasn't happened yet, but it will, and I think that if you set yourself to it, that's how it's going to go down. Now stop being all doom and gloom and just buck up and say, 'I CAN do this.' Say it now." Jasper raised his eyebrows, and she met his look evenly, telling him with her eyes that she was serious. He sighed, rolled his eyes, and muttered, "I can do this." She grabbed a tighter hold of his shoulders and stared at him. He groaned and said, "I CAN do this," in a much louder voice. Alice smiled, satisfied, and hopped off his toes and was standing by his side half a second later. We had all watched this exchange with internal smirks, and by now they had all become pronounced on our faces. Emmett was shaking with barely withheld laughter.

I shook my head, and turned to the last person in the room who hadn't given his opinion. His was the one I was also worried about, because Edward was a somewhat secluded person, one who might not want another person joining the family. Someone who wasn't a vampire being close to us, something we had never done before. I gave him my word to go, and he took a deep breath.

"There really is nothing I can say that will change what's going to happen." It wasn't a question, and he would know that saying no was a lost cause. Everyone was on the Bella Bandwagon, and he knew that from their thoughts. Even Jasper was now a bit happier, though still nervous about what could happen, though he tried to hide it from Alice. He couldn't hide it from Edward, though.

"I'm pretty sure that we could handle a child, though she's a human. And what could happen has been touched on. I can say nothing against this, because even if I did, the outcome wouldn't change, and Rosalie would probably claw my eyes out." We all chuckled at this, except Rosalie who, true to form, bared her teeth at Edward.

"I must admit, the idea of watching this little girl grow up is intriguing, and it interests me. I want to see what she'll think of us, and how she'll react to having the family she might have missed out on had she stayed with Renee. Like Esme said, we'd be doing something good for her. I do want everyone to be happy, and if this is what pleases us, then so be it. I have nothing to say to counter the group vote."

At the end of his sentence, there was a moment of silence where no one knew what to say. Then, Esme stood up, and her eyes glistened with venom tears that she couldn't shed. Rosalie stood too, and she ran towards Esme and hugged her. Alice did the same, and all the women stood there in the center of the living room, hugging, while us guys, who were too cool for hugging, just stood there looking awkward. When the girls had returned to their previous stances, I cleared my throat and everyone turned to look at me.

"Alright," I began. "We have a few items of business to attend to." Everyone but Edward simply looked at me, and I took that to mean, 'We don't know what you're talking about so please, do explain.'

"We have to decide a few things about Bella's future, one of them involving some people in Italy." Everyone now knew exactly what I was talking about. I continued, and they all listened with rapt attention.

"We will have to decide when we want to tell Bella about vampires. I think that when she's around five or six would be a good time." Esme nodded, and Rosalie spoke up.

"So you're suggesting that we let her make her own assumptions until then, and then when we tell her, just warn her to keep it quiet? How many five year olds can keep a secret?" She had a good point there, and Alice had the counterargument for it.

"That's simple. If we stress how important it is that she not tell anyone, and just show her how important it is, then I think it'll be safe to tell her. Also, I could just look in to the future when we do decide to tell her, and I can see if she'll tell anyone. It's not foolproof, but it can work." Jasper nodded along with his wife's thinking, and I considered it.

"I think that Bella can be trusted with that information at five. She probably wouldn't want to tell anyone this, and even if she did, everyone would think it was just a little girl's overactive imagination. But I don't think she'll tell anyone about this, especially if we stress it hard enough, like Alice said." Edward spoke up, and I agreed.

"So who votes we tell Bella about our vampirism when she turns five and until then we let her make her own assumptions about what we are until then?" Six other hands went up, and I nodded.

"Alright then, that's settled. Next order of business: her schooling. I presume that we were all under the impression that she was to be publicly schooled?" The rest of my family nodded, and I spoke again.

"Are there any objections to that?" Rosalie raised her hand, and I gave her the floor.

"Well, if we did want to keep a stronger lid on Bella's ability to tell others about us, then we could home school her. If we worried more about our secret, then we could develop her social skills another way." I considered this, and then Alice spoke.

"I think Bella should go to school, and meet other people. We want her to have the full human experience she would have had with Renee, right? In that case, she should go to school and learn there, and make new human friends." The rest of my family nodded again, and Rose shrugged.

"It was just an idea." I made my way to the next topic, which was keeping under the radar of the Volturi. I said this to my family, and we all became somber.

"I think the best way to avoid their knowing of Bella is to just stay away from them, if we can. We simply don't interact with them, and hope the Aro doesn't suddenly decide that he needs to 'reconnect' with his old friend." Jasper's words were wise and true, and they made me think for a moment. If Aro did decide to send a letter and invite us to visit him, then what could we do? Leave Bella behind, unprotected, and then have Aro read our thoughts and know we had a human that knew about us? Eventually, I knew in my heart of hearts that we would have to change Bella one day, or else be executed by the Volturi for endangering the secret. And now Edward knew that we'd have to change her. I thought, _tell no one about this_, and hoped that he got the message. I sighed, and then rose to my feet.

"Well, are we going to get her tonight or tomorrow?" All at once, my family chimed, "Tonight," and I knew they were eager to meet the little girl who would soon be a big part of our lives. I smiled, and then walked out the door, grabbing my keys from the jar on the side table. I walked out, shut the door behind me, and moved at vampire speed to my car.

On the road, my headlights parted the darkness evenly, though I didn't need them. My eyes were well adjusted to the dark… and basically every other kind of lighting. I drove at around ninety miles an hour, wanting to get to the hospital quickly so Renee could make her escape with enough time to make Seattle by ten. It was seven right now, meaning talking to my family had taken an hour. Renee would be happy to be out of Forks tonight, though I knew that saying goodbye to her only daughter would be very hard, at best, for her.

I arrived at the hospital in about five minutes, and I pulled in to my parking spot right next to the main entrance. I stopped the car and pulled on the parking brake, then stepped out. I locked it behind me as I walked up to the front doors. I pulled one open, and the first thing I saw was Renee sitting right where I had left her: on the lobby couch, holding her Bella. She looked up when she heard the door open, and a smile lit up her face when she saw me. She made to stand up, but since Bella was falling asleep, she decided against it. Instead, I walked over to her and sat down on the chair across from her.

"My family decided that it would be a good thing to adopt Bella." Renee's smile was a bittersweet one, telling me that she was happy that Bella would have a good home, but sad that she would have to leave her forever with me in a minute. She thanked me warmly, and told me to pass it on to my family. I assured her that I would. By then, all the niceties had passed, and it was time to finish what we had started. She stood up, being careful not to jostle Bella. I stood too, and looked at her evenly.

"You do know exactly what's going to happen when I take your daughter, right?" She nodded, and I muttered, "Just making sure." She leaned over, and handed me Bella. My arms were ready and open for Bella, and being extra gentle, more so than I normally was, I took Bella from Renee. The change in temperature from her mother's arms made her more alert, and she blinked a little groggily up at me. Her warm, chocolate brown eyes held me there, staring down in to her face, transfixed at this little girl who was mine now. I looked up to Renee, tearing my gaze away from Bella, and saw tear tracks shining again on her mother's face. She picked up the backpack that had lain against the chair next to her, and she handed it to me. She picked up another tissue, and wiped her eyes with it. She reached out to touch Bella one more time, and I let her. She stroked her face with the soft touch of a butterfly's wing, and said a few words.

"I'll always love you. Never forget that." With the tears falling rapidly down her cheeks now, Renee turned away from the child that used to be hers, and looked at me.

"Take care of her, Carlisle." With that, she turned slowly and walked out the front door and in to the parking lot. I watched her climb in to her car, turn on the headlights, and drive away. About a minute after she was gone, I looked back down to Bella. She was sucking on her thumb, an intense look on her face, one that didn't belong on someone so young. I slung the strap of the backpack over my shoulder, holding Bella in one arm. I covered her a bit more thoroughly with her blanket, and marched outside in to the cold January air. I was halfway to my car when I realized I had no car seat for Bella. I sighed, and hoped there were no police officers on the road tonight. Bella was going to have to ride home in my lap. There was nothing else I could do, and besides, I knew how to drive carefully, though I disliked it when it wasn't absolutely necessary. But I'd have to do it tonight, and as I got in to the car, I wondered why I didn't just go to the nearest Target or whatever and buy her a seat. The truth was, I was anxious for my family to meet this baby, and it would only waste time if I did that. Also, Rosalie would skin me alive if she found out I had bought some random colored seat, and not one from a matching pink stroller, seat, and play pen set. I would get us home safely and soundly, thanks to my superior reflexes and driving skills. And I could always run… the idea sounded intriguing, and also safer. Why not? I sometimes stayed at the hospital overnight, so my car in the parking lot wouldn't be a surprise for anyone. And I could always say it had broken down and I had gotten a ride from my son… that settled it. I was running home. I got out of the car, and hitched Bella up more securely in my arms. I looked around to make sure no one was watching, (there was no one there, but better safe than sorry,) and then I took off in to the trees. I knew exactly the way to get home the quickest, and I did so with ease. My legs were moving at an incredible rate, and I supposed I could have beaten Emmett had we been racing. My arms, however, remained still and strong around Bella, who was looking around in wonder. I brought the blanket closer to her, not wanting her to catch cold. She looked a bit scared, but also in wonder. I smiled to myself at what must have been going through her mind. In a few minutes, I was standing on the front porch, my hair windblown from the running. Bella was still awake, and she was still warm from what I could feel. I took in a deep breath, and let it out. _Here we go_, I thought, and opened the door.

**Hee hee, cliffie! I was on a roll there! Worked on that from like 6 to 12 :) So, how was it? Tell me what you thought of it :) I really don't care if you're anonymous, because it's still someone who's reading the story. If you're too lazy to sign in, then just leave an anonymous review. But if you read it and don't even bother to tell me what you thought of the story, then that just makes me sad :( You can say it sucked, or it was good. You can say whatever you want, as long as it's a review. (But good reviews are definitely appreciated more XD). So hit the little review link, and just tell me what you thought of it :) Also, if you want to see something in a future chapter, then just ask for it in a review. I'm going to be posting the chapters by a year of Bella's life, starting next chapter, which will be infancy. So just tell me if you want to see something specific, and I'll see if I can fit it in :) Okay then, hit the review link… right… NOW!**

****Sorry if I didn't represent Edward very well, I was unsure of how to phrase his statement… sorry if I disappointed on that! And I must admit, then end was kind of suckyish… I just ran out of ideas! Sorry!**


	3. Year One

**Uh oh. I'm in deeeeeeeep trouble, aren't I? 0_0 I'm so sorry for the huge delay! I have been meaning to get this up for a while, but I just haven't had time! I have less than a single hour to myself during each day of the week, and through the whole weekend just NO TIME! So sorry for the long delay, and I'll really try to update sooner, okay? So anyways, read the really overdue chapter three. BTW, I tried to make it extra long for you guys, so be happy, okay?**

****Right here, I'm saying that I do NOT own the idea of the Cullen's adopting Bella, but I did (maybe) come up with the idea of Renee having the Cullen's adopt Bella, instead of her and Charlie dying or something. Thanks for understanding :)**

****Also, as you all probably have noticed, the new title is "Will Be Loved." This idea was given to me by **Celeste1788**, and so she gets a cyber-hug :) Thank you, Celeste, I really like it. This will be the title until, A) I get bored with it, B) I find a better one, or C) I don't change it at all. So yeah, that's about it for the authors' note :) Over and out.**

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Esme's POV – Month Three

I was sitting on the couch in the family room, waiting for my husband to come home with our new baby. Bella was going to be such a great addition to our family! I couldn't wait to see her, to hold her in my arms. I hadn't held a baby for so many years, and being this close to doing it was so exciting. I refused to let my mind conjure up an image of her, because I wanted to be completely surprised when I first saw her. So I purposely kept my thoughts away from that, and instead focused on every other detail about her life with us. I planned the look of her new room, her feeding and changing accessories, and what outfits we would get her tomorrow, when we went on a shopping spree for her. Rosalie and I had planned this as soon as Carlisle had left, because she was as eager as I was to get started with our baby girl. She was probably even more eager! I wanted a baby for so long; because I had been changed only a few days after my baby was born. But Rosalie had never experienced the feeling of motherhood as I had, even for such a short time, and she wanted a taste of it so badly.

I was ready to jump out of my seat when I finally heard Carlisle run up on to the porch. As soon everyone heard it, we all stood simultaneously. I looked to the faces of my family, and analyzed their expressions. Rosalie's was impatient and excited. Alice simply looked happy. Emmett looked energized, ready to meet his new little sister. Edward was looking calm and more open, set to see our newest little girl. Jasper was tense, but he looked composed and ready to deal with any temptation Bella might pose. It struck me then that it was a good thing the boys had just gone hunting. Jasper's eyes were a bright shade of honey brown, and this reassured me. I wasn't worried that Jasper wouldn't be able to control himself the second he saw Bella, but I was concerned of what might happen if she started bleeding from a fall, or something. But really, I had faith in Jasper, and he knew that. He wouldn't want to let us down.

My attention was quickly drawn back to Carlisle, as he walked in the door a moment later. He came in to the family room, holding a small bundle, and my world stopped. In his arms was the baby I had hoped for and dreamed of for almost my entire life. Her eyes were alert, staring at us with an intensity that didn't belong on her young face. The wispy little strands of hair that topped her head were a chocolate brown that I could see from here. Her hands were curled to her chest, and her breath came evenly as she watched us. Her new family, though she didn't know it yet. I stopped breathing when Carlisle had come in, and now it blew out in a soft little sigh. When I inhaled again, I caught the delicious smell of her blood, though I paid no attention to it. It was simply a small detail that didn't really matter. Sure, it smelled good, but flowers smelled good too. That was the way I thought of it. It helped most of the time. So I walked forward with my arms extended, want to hold her first. Rosalie and I had agreed on this, because two vampires racing towards her, snarling at each other would frighten her, a lot. Carlisle smiled at me, and handed her down to me. I picked her up and cradled her to my chest, never taking my eyes off of her. She looked at me in wonder, the question of who I was printed clearly on her face. She would soon get over that though, and I liked that thought. I rocked her slowly, carefully, and smiled down at her. This was the moment I had dreamt of, sobbed dry tears over, wanted so bad for so long. Nothing could ruin my happiness in this moment, and I felt so complete, I couldn't find the words to describe it. I walked slowly back to the couch, holding my Bella close to me. She was wrapped up in a little blanket, pink and white checkered. I heard her tiny heart beating, and was unable to breathe for a moment because I never thought I could hold my own little baby like this. I loved her so much already, and I was almost surprised at how quickly I fell in love with her. Rosalie came over to sit by me, and she murmured a quick, "May I hold her now?" I nodded, and handed Bella to her. The second Bella touched her arms, Rosalie melted and a happiness I hadn't seen since Emmett told her he loved her was filling her beautiful features. Rosalie loved this baby as much as I did, and we were never going to let her go. She too rocked Bella, and cooed at her for a few minutes. Then, Emmett finally mustered up the courage to ask if he could hold her. For a moment, I half expected her to snarl at him, but after only a moments' hesitation, she handed Bella over. Everyone took a turn holding her, except for Jasper. Alice noticed this too, and her face flashed blank for a second, and then she strode over to Jasper.

"You haven't held Bella, I noticed." Jasper groaned, and then said, "You're going to kill me, I swear it!" Alice's face showed annoyance, and she sprang up, one second standing before him and the next her feet were braced against his sides and her face was even with his.

"Do we need to go through this again? I just scanned the future, and I see you holding Bella and nothing bad happening. Now I'm going to say this once, and I swear Jasper Whitlock you will listen to me. Alright?" He nodded to her fierce words, looking somewhat cowed. That little pixie wife of his could have such an affect on him!

"You. Will. Hold. Bella. Tonight. Or. Else." Her words were chopped off at the ends, and she had a steely look in her eyes that meant, 'NO arguing.' Jasper sighed, and then agreed to her demand. She smiled, a big, chipper grin, before sliding down her mate and walking over to Edward, who was holding Bella at that moment. He had a look of concentration on his face, which Alice took no notice of. She simply asked for Bella, and then gently took a hold of her sister. She walked back towards Jasper, and on her way there Edward explained his expression.

"I can't hear her thoughts," He began, and five of us turned to look at him. Alice was still focused on Bella, who she had held before for only a short time. She had obviously seen this, and was just waiting for Jasper's attention back.

"I can't get a single thought from her. It's just a blank. Nothing." My children and husband all looked confused from this new development. Why couldn't he hear Bella's thoughts? I was baffled as to why this was, but I knew from the look that was slowly dawning on Carlisle's face that he was undoubtedly outlining theories in his mind. Edward, judging from his lingering look of confusion, was still mystified by what Carlisle was thinking. Maybe his theories weren't as developed as I had thought.

Alice was now getting very impatient for Jasper's attention, and he caught her emotions. He turned to face her once again, and winced at how close she had gotten with Bella. You could visibly see him stop breathing, and Alice narrowed her eyes. Her face turned in to a blank slate for a moment, and then she came back to the present. She sighed, and raised her eyebrows.

"You do know that I see you holding Bella, and you don't have the slightest issue with her?" Jasper looked to the ceiling, and would have sighed if he could have used his breath. But he used her statement to bolster his resolve to do this, and he sucked in the tiniest breath. You could immediately see his eyes widen as he breathed in her scent, and he almost turned away and ran out the front door to escape from the temptation of Bella's blood. But Alice snarled lightly at him, very out of character for her, and this stopped Jasper in his tracks. He slowly took in a deep breath, and he shuddered a tiny bit. But he had soon taken in two more breaths, and nothing had happened. Feeling a tad better, Jasper had extended his arms. Alice carefully placed Bella in his arms, and being extra slow, he brought his arms closer to his chest. This was an amazing moment for all of us, as we had never seen Jasper so close to a human. We all trusted Alice, but how she could have seen something like this happening was incredible. Seeing a vampire who hadn't lived on animal blood for long actually touching, _caressing_ a human without either planning to or actually drinking its blood was unbelievable. And then, something even more amazing happened. Jasper, peering down in to this serious little baby's face, smiled, and very, very slowly, extended his finger to her. Her eyes widened, and then a tiny grin broke out on her face. She held up her hand, and grasped Jasper's large finger with it. We all gasped, except for Alice of course, and smiled at the "Hallmark moment" then had just happened. I wished I had thought to take out my little camera, and before I knew it, a small flash of light had filled the room and Emmett stood, smirking, holding what I knew to be Carlisle's Polaroid. Edward chuckled, and Jasper scowled at him, though he still kept his finger encased in Bella's hand. The picture popped out a moment later, and Emmett held it out for all to see. It was the color replica of the moment that had just happened, and everyone laughed a bit. Jasper just sighed and rolled his eyes, though eventually he smiling too. Emmett was gone a second later. In another second, he was standing at the mantle, an empty picture frame in one hand, the picture in the other. It was soon inside the frame, and sitting in the center of the mantle. Jasper grumbled a bit, but he didn't look like he would take it down. Partly because he knew it would upset us, and also because he kind of liked it, which I could tell, though he tried to hide it.

Soon, Bella's eyes began to droop, and I knew she was getting a bit sleepy. I looked over, and Rosalie was getting out of her seat to go take Bella from Emmett, who was being rocked by him, to her apparent enjoyment. Emmett relinquished her without a word, because he too had seen her start to get tired.

"Are we going to have her sleep in her clothes?" She asked, and I shrugged.

"I hate the idea as much as you do, but it looks like she'll have to. We'll get her some new clothes tomorrow." I answered Rose's question, and she wrinkled her nose. I knew that Alice was thinking the same thing, but there was nothing I could do about it. I mean, it was nine o'clock. No good store stores would be open, though we wanted them to be. So clothes and such would have to wait until the next morning. Rosalie marched up the stairs to her room, where she had a bed, for decorative purposes only, of course. She'd just sleep there for the night, until we got her a crib or something of the sort. I figured that Rosalie would want to stay with her, and no one dared dispute that. Also, we all wanted Rose to be happy with the baby she had wanted for so long. So I snuggled in to the stone cold, marble statue at my side, and he brought his arms around me. I sighed at the amazing feeling that coursed through me, so deep and intense that I sometimes wondered how humans lived with their washed-out version of these emotions. Carlisle brought his face to my hair, and I felt him inhale my scent. I relaxed in his arms and just let the world around me fade away until all I knew or felt was my husband pressed against me.

After a few minutes of sitting like this, I looked up to find the family room empty. Alice had run off with Jasper, and they were probably out in the woods. A quick listen told me that they weren't in the house, which confirmed my suspicions. Emmett had gone off in to the woods too, most likely wanting to scope out new locations for their games and contests. Edward was sitting at the piano, playing quietly enough to escape a lecture on noise from Rosalie. I sat up, and Carlisle released my hand that I hadn't known he'd been holding. He looked at me, and I began talking about what I had been thinking about.

"Carlisle," I said, and as always, felt the little spark of joy go through me at saying his name. I wished that it would never fade.

"I think we're going to have to move. I think that if we register Bella as our own child-," which we had done for our kids at least twice, sometimes we just acted as friends living together- "Then we'll have to go somewhere that Charlie won't have access to things like that in his records." Charlie, Renee's husband, had just joined the Forks police force. If things like adoption records were in the Cullen file, which he would have access to, then a moment of curiosity could lead to the whole 'subtle' thing being blown completely out of the water. Carlisle caught on to my thinking in a moment, and his brow furrowed. He thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"You're right, and we probably will have to move. If Charlie finds out, he will probably raise a big legal issue, rightly, about his daughter. I'd say that we should start out by moving not so far, like maybe Seattle, and then when she starts kindergarten, we could move farther away. It's just smart to do so, and we'd be protecting Bella. Edward, what do you think?" Carlisle never changed his volume, which had been set at a low murmur. The piano never even skipped half a beat and he answered smoothly.

"I think that's a good idea. Of course, we won't have a problem with missing curriculum in school, and we can always finish another few college courses in Seattle, if we choose to pose as older people there. We could only stay for a few years though. But yes, that's a smart idea, and I think it'll work. But where do you plan on living? You and Carlisle could always pose as our friends, and you just happen to have a child. We could get an apartment, or maybe two." Edward was now musing aloud, and his thoughts were right along with mine. I had been considering getting a condo or something similar, and he had probably lifted that from my mind. I didn't mind, of course. When you have a mind reader in the house, you really can't be bothered about that.

I was ready for the next day to begin, so that the second the good stores opened, we could get everything we needed and wanted for Bella. The night seemed to drag on forever, but in reality, it lasted the same as always. But I had to admit, when the sun peeked out over the eastern horizon, I was terribly excited. Bella had been going to wake up about an hour after that, as Alice, who had arrived back here a few hours earlier, assured us. When we could finally hear the sounds of her stirring from up in Rosalie and Emmett's room, Alice dashed up the stairs and in to her own room. She was going to change, which in all honesty wasn't completely _necessary. _Vampires had never changing bodies, which meant that we couldn't sweat, couldn't do most of the things that normal humans dirtied their clothes with. So Alice's changing was merely a habit, or, more accurately, a hobby. She absolutely adored fashion, a passion that Rosalie shared with fervor. I followed suit, mostly to appease them and also, I did like looking nice. I remembered that in my human life, I was always well dressed, with never a hair out of place. Though it was like squinting through murky water, I recalled that perfectly. So I went upstairs to change too. When I came out, Alice nodded to me from where she was leaning beside her doorway, approving of my outfit. We were walking down the hall when Rosalie emerged from her room, carrying Bella and joined by Emmett. He had gone up there earlier in the evening, wanting to be around his newly jubilant wife. She was dressed in different attire than the night before, without a wrinkle in it. Bella was dressed in some other clothing, which I hadn't expected. Rosalie explained it to us, saying that she had found one other outfit in the bag Carlisle had come in with. She looked as enthusiastic as Alice and I were to start our first day with Bella. Speaking of her, Bella's wide chocolate eyes were barely visible over the edge of the blanket she was again wrapped in. She looked wide awake, and I didn't really doubt that she was wondering where her mother was. Soon, she would probably come to accept that her real mother was gone, and I hoped that I just might be able to fill a part of that role for her.

We walked downstairs as a group, and when we got there Jasper and Edward were missing from the couch where they had been when we left. But after a moment, they appeared from another stairwell, fully clothed and ready to leave. There were six of us going, because Carlisle had to retrieve his car from the hospital, as he had told me. I was not in the least shocked when he told me that he had run home, because I knew that had I been in that situation, I would have done the same thing. So Carlisle watched us go from the downstairs living room window as we got in to two separate cars. We were going to drive up to Seattle, with Bella in one of our laps. Actually, that would probably be safer for her should we be in an accident, which of course wasn't going to happen. We had three talented vampires going with us, two of which who could warn us of any coming accident. So it was decided that Bella would ride sitting in Alice's lap, as she had asked before we got in. I would drive one of the cars, and Emmett, Edward, and Jasper would ride with me. Rose was going to drive the other car, and Alice would sit in the backseat with Bella. So once we covered the seating arrangements, we all got in to our designated spots. I was leading, and with my driving speed, though slower than most of the others', I would probably get us to Seattle around nine. The sun was barely above the horizon, and I drove facing it. The sky was overcast, like always, though with a cold wind. Rosalie followed right behind me in her car. After about an hour, Rosalie made the motion for me to pull over. I did so, and Rose got out and walked around to my window. I cranked it down, and she spoke.

"Bella's getting hungry. We're going to have to stop and get some formula or something for her." I nodded, and then pointed to a small rest stop up ahead.

"I think they'll probably have something of a store there, and we can get her some milk there." Rosalie got back in to her car, and I pulled back on to the road. I didn't need to explain where we were going to the boys, because they had obviously heard the exchange. So when the stop came up, I cut the engine the same time I hit 'unlock.' We all hopped out, and from behind me I could hear the sounds of two pairs of feet getting out simultaneously. I turned to see Alice holding Bella, who looked as though she had fallen asleep in the car. When the cold December wind hit her rosy little cheeks, warm from the heater, she flinched. Alice looked worried for a second about her frigid skin affecting Bella, and then her face cleared when she saw what happened a moment later.

"Here, use this." Edward tossed his jacket over to Alice, which she caught in one hand. She put it between her body and Bella, and wrapped her more securely in the little baby blanket. Bella looked slightly more at ease now, and she curled up close next to Alice's chest. It surprised me how much Bella seemed to be accepting us, these strange people who most definitely not her mother and father. We all walked in to the small convenience store, Edward in only his long sleeved polo shirt. It would be somewhat conspicuous in the shop, as it was probably around ten degrees (F) outside. But nonetheless, we entered to the slight tune of a ringing bell. We saw the shelves were rather scantily stocked, but we still found the formula we needed. Alice also had the insight to point out some bottles, which Rosalie put in to the basket as well. Jasper picked up three water bottles, because the formula required a few cups per serving. Rose took the bottles from him and walked over to the checkout aisle, and since no one was there, she walked up to the front. A middle-aged man was covering the counter, and we all heard his heart rate pick up as he took in the sight of Rosalie. His face was vacant for a moment, his mind somewhere else, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward wince. His thoughts must have been pretty graphic. Emmett noticed this too, and decided to go set things right. Jasper had a funny little smirk on his face as he anticipated what the man's feelings would be in a minute, and Alice was already giggling silently, having seen what was going to go down. Rosalie, noticing his reaction to her, decided to lay it on thick as he rang up her items. It would be more amusing for all of us. Just as he scanned the first water bottle, Emmett was standing at Rose's side, one arm around her waist. His eyes were locked with the cashier's, and fear was suddenly obvious on his face. Jasper was having some trouble coping with the sudden onslaught of horror coming from the man and was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Though he could smell the blood of the human, he paid no attention to it, and that made me proud. Sensing the emotion, Jasper smiled for half a second at me, and then returned to the comedy unfolding at the register.

Emmett was now speaking, a bit loudly; to Rose about he was so happy about their new child. He said to the cashier, "That little girl is a handful sometimes!" Then he turned to Rose, and nuzzling her cheek, smiling in a cheeky way, said, "But we're ready for more, aren't we? Lots, _lots _more." Emmett's voice grew deep and seductive, and Rosalie sighed empathetically. She brought her hand to his hand, and he held it for a moment and kissed it in a way that shouldn't ever be seen with mouths. The man at the counter choked on air. He finished ringing up the stuff as quickly as possible.

"Your bill is $9.43." When Rose handed him a ten, she was careful to make sure that their hands didn't touch. The guy looked really disappointed, as he had been looking forward to that touch, it seemed.

"Have a nice day," He stuttered out, and handed Rosalie her receipt and change. With Emmett's arm still around her waist, she sauntered off, swinging her hips. The man gaped open mouthed towards her until she exited, the opening doors bringing in a cold blast of air. This helped the man come to his senses a little, and shaking his head, he turned his back to us. We went out the front doors, and Rosalie was almost seated in her car when she leaned out.

"Emmett," she called softly. "Two things: One, Bella needs some diapers; I can smell it. Second, we're going to need a bottle warmed up for her, and I'm sure I saw a microwave in there." Looking eager for more torture, Emmett bounded out to meet her. She was holding a bottle, just removed from the set of three, and the cap to it. She brought a water bottle and the can of formula too. She stepped out on to the ground, and Emmett brought an arm around her shoulders, and the two waltzed in like the married couple, passionately in love, that they were, and pretended to be.

I shook my head, smiling at their antics. It wasn't uncommon for a man to catch a sight of Rosalie, and lose control of all his senses. It was a game between them to see how hard they could crush they mans' dreams, and his morale, for that matter. So in they went for round two. I walked over to Alice, who was sitting in the other car, holding Bella. Her nose was slightly wrinkled, and Bella looked almost _pleased _with herself. I smiled and laughed softly, and Alice shot me a dark look, though she was a bit amused too. I rummaged around in the diaper bag that we had brought, and found only one other diaper. Alice explained that she had changed her once while we were on the road, and that was it for all the diapers we had been given. So it was a good thing Rose was buying more, and I knew she'd probably get some wipes and cream. So if we put the can of formula, the extra bottles, and the water in the bag, we'd be all set.

When Rosalie came back, she changed Bella quickly and then gave her back to Alice. The whole time, Emmett was looking towards his brothers, his thoughts obviously making them laugh. I smiled at them, and then got in to the car. We were really going to hurry over to Seattle now: I could practically smell Alice's impatience. And believe you me: I was ready to get my shop on!

Alice's POV

If I could be exhausted, I would be. We spent about six hours in Seattle, hitting up every store we wanted. Bella's head had been drooping on to her chest on the ride home, and I loved the way she looked, her face so innocent and open, framed against the new pale pink baby seat we had bought her. Covered by her original blanket and the soft, downy, fluffy one we had also bought her. But that was only 1/100 of the amazing array of items she now had. Loaded in the two trunks were a new crib, and a blanket and pillow set, along with a crib mattress, in the corresponding size for the crib; a play pen, not that we'd use it all that much, that girl would never be set down!; a floor mat and a tiny swing to play with; a set of alphabet blocks (it's never too early!); some soft cloth dolls, some bright rattles and teethers, a giant bag of diapers, a box of wipes, and some diaper cream; a pacifier set; the stroller/carrier set that came with the car seat (Rosalie picked those out, she found the cutest color!); a high chair with a built in tray; and a nice, mahogany-colored changing table that matched the crib. Of course, that excluded her clothing.

It was unbelievable how many outfits we (okay, mostly Rose and I), had bought her. It was as though we had a huge closet in our minds, and we needed to buy the perfect clothes to fill it up. It was undoubtedly one of my favorite times that I had ever had shopping for someone other than me. Every baby garment you could ever want or imagine we had bought. She had an assembly of muted-color bodysuits, very soft and warm, perfect for bedtime or naptime use. She also had about thirty shirts, about ten of them cotton, (I hate to say it, ugh) reusable one-pieces. Please, don't make me use the accursed word again! The rest of her shirts were cute, stroll-in-the-park type shirts, for public showing-off. She also had maybe seven jackets, all coordinating perfectly with some of the shirts. Seattle, where Esme told me we would probably move to, wasn't all that warm. So we would have to make sure that her clothing fit the weather. In addition to those, we had ten or so pairs of socks, and we had found some soft, cloth shoes in her size. That was all we were getting for now, and once Bella had worn most of these once or so, we'd give them away for some less fortunate children. The people at the Salvation Army center practically knew us personally. We had also snagged a few more necessities, like a few more cans of formula, two 24 packs of water, a bottle warmer, and some spit cloths, besides things like baby bath items and things like that. We didn't need to worry about any kinds of food right now, because she was only three months old. Carlisle had told us yesterday that she would probably begin to eat cereal and baby food at around 6 months. So we were covered for a little while on just formula.

When the rest of us were in the store, Esme had slipped off to house hunt. Her efforts, which were at best excellent, had proven to be even better this time. She had found us a condo building that had just been constructed and had very little tenants. She had found this surprising, as it was right on the edge of everything without being on top of it. The building included a swimming pool in the courtyard, and there was an awesome little park just down the road. I knew that we'd be taking Bella there often enough. The price was on the higher side though, and she figured that was probably what turned people off. She walked in and asked the attendant at the front desk if she could go upstairs and get a tour of the top floor. The girl agreed, and took her all the way up. The level, which consisted of four condominiums, was unoccupied, and practically ours for the taking. Of course, Esme hadn't mentioned that she would be buying all of the condos. The employee had taken her in to each of the homes, which were placed in the four corners of the building. She had then asked her whether she was interested in purchasing one, and Esme had replied that she was unsure. The woman had thought that she was conflicted about buying one of them, when in reality she was concerned about how many she wanted. She asked then if she could use the phone in the lobby in private, the employee agreed readily, eager to please what was probably the first customer of the day, though it was past noon on a Saturday. Esme had called Carlisle, and told him about the flats. He had agreed on getting them, but he had said that maybe we shouldn't get the whole floor, as Esme wanted. He had said that we could compromise and get two flats, and leave the other homes for other possible tenants. He reasoned that if he and Esme split a room with Em and Rose, then Jasper and I could split with Edward and Bella. Edward was the loner in the family, so Bella could bunk with him until she got older and we moved to an actual house. The rest of us preferred to be with our husband/wives. So then it was settled, and Esme hung up. She had then gone up to the attendant and proceeded to begin the buying process. The cost was rather a lot, but no problem for Carlisle's doctors' salary and my stock market funds. (It's like a game to me!) So Esme was brought a form from the lady's desk. She filled it out quickly, signing that the condominiums were to be in her name. The down payment was 10%, which Esme paid easily with the cash she had on hand. The attendant gaped at it, from what our mother told us, because she had obviously never seen someone take a stack of hundreds from their purse and lay it on the table. Pfft, she needed to spend a little time in LA., not that I ever had ;). Towards the end, Esme had discussed a payment plan, which consisted of this: Send in the rest of the money in a month (because if she had just given it to her right then, the lady would have probably fainted.) We obviously needed no loans or anything like that, which I'll admit, considerably shortened the process. So in less than two hours, Esme had two condos under her name. She was nothing if not efficient. I guess it helped that she paid at the starting price too, skipping the haggling…

When we arrived back at home, we left most of the stuff in the cars. We did so because when Esme caught up with us in the Target store, buying Bella's furniture items, she told us what the lady said to her. She had said that we could move in whenever we wanted to after the houses got inspected. Carlisle, who had done this as soon as he got off the phone with Esme, had called in someone who could inspect the condos in the next week. It was difficult, but he had his ways. So for now, only some of the clothes and all of the necessities would be coming out of the cars and Bella would sleep in one of our "prop" beds. We wanted to keep most of the big furniture in the trunk, so that we could transfer it easily. As for the stuff in this house, Carlisle had already arranged for a temporary storage unit. We would keep some of our things there for about five years, and then when we moved in to another house, we could move all our stuff back in. We would be taking one or two beds, just to use as "props" again, and our fridge/freezer. Also, we'd take a couch for each of the main rooms. We'd take two of both our televisions and tables, one for each home. That about covered everything big, because the condos came equipped with built in dishwashers, microwaves, and cabinets, in addition to the laundry facilities that were available on every floor. So we would have that to ourselves too. We made this checklist as soon as Carlisle got us settled in to the living room.

Bella was squirming around, and she was getting a little tired, though she didn't want to sleep. An idea came in to Emmett's head right then, and I saw it happen a second later. I smiled, and he was outside a moment later. In a few more seconds, he was back inside, holding a little bag of toys. He walked at normal speed to Bella, and crouched down in front of her. She had been sitting in Esme's lap, and now she turned her to face Em. He opened the bag and brought out a tiny little toy puppy, which he held out to her. Inside it was a rattle, and he shook it gently. Bella watched, enthralled, and then a smile broke out over her face. She laughed, and the sound, which none of us had ever heard before, entranced us. Emmett made a little game with the dog, prancing him around on the couch beside her. Bella's brow creased for a moment, and then she made a little noise. Emmett discerned this as her wanting to touch it, and he did that. He moved the animal up towards her, and she reached out to bat at it. We knew that she couldn't hold it by herself yet, but she seemed to like just feeling it. She giggled again, and Emmett brought it up close to her body. Her eyes widened, and Emmett snuggled it right up against her chest. Her little arms came carefully around it, and she held it. She brought one of its ears close to her mouth and began to suck on it, her intent expression making us all laugh.

A little while after that, she began to slowly drift off. That was when Carlisle asked to hold her. Esme passed her to him, and he held her while murmuring softly to her. It was just so sweet to watch them, and it made my heart swell. I had known that she would fit in perfectly with us. I had seen it.

The next day, when Bella awoke, we started what I believed would soon become our routine. When I walked in to Rose's room, (she had gone to find Emmett about something or another), I found Bella just starting to open her eyes. When she saw me she smiled widely, and I was amazed at how quickly she was beginning to recognize us. I flitted to the bedside and picked her up, simultaneously wrinkling my nose at the smell coming from her diaper. I sighed dramatically, and bounced her carefully on my hip.

"Did you do that?" I asked her, and she just looked at me, as though saying, "Well what do you think?"

"Well then! Let's just get rid of that, shall we?" I walked her over to the temporary changing station we had set up in the bathroom, and set her down. I grabbed a new diaper and some wipes and cream. I quickly did the dirty deed, and she looked happier. Then, when a new feeling quickly overtook her, I saw what was going to happen.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" She simply sat there, saying nothing, and I swept her up in to my arms.

"Well, let's go then, little girl." I whisked her downstairs in to the kitchen, and saw Esme already warming up a bottle for her. She had obviously heard what I had said upstairs. When the beeper went off, she picked it up and did the pinkie-test on it.

"It's good," She said, and handed it to me.

"Can you toss me the burp cloth over there? And a bib, too?" I asked her, and she complied. I caught the cloth and placed it over my shoulder. I cradled Bella in one arm, and tied on the bib with the other. I then put the bottle to her mouth, and she started sucking eagerly. When she stopped to take a breath, I put her over my shoulder and patted her back gently. I heard a tiny burp, and brought her around to face me.

"There we go," I crooned, and she looked pleased with herself. I repeated the process a few times, until she was full. On the last burp, I heard a difference in her stomach, and a second before it happened, I saw her spitting up. Quick as a flash, I adjusted the cloth so my shirt wouldn't get dirty, and just in time. I felt her cough a little, and then she spit. Just at that moment, Jasper walked in. My back was to the kitchen door, and he got the full view of the dirty act. I turned and saw his face, and then began laughing. He looked like the poster boy for the words, "shell-shocked." Still chuckling, I turned Bella around. I wiped her mouth, and then walked over to a kitchen bar stool. I sat down, and patted the seat next to me for Jasper to come over. He did so, and then pretended to glare at Bella.

"What was that for, huh? Couldn't you have waited just a little while to do that? Like maybe when I was _gone_?" I shook my head, smiling, and looked at my beau.

"Sorry Jaz. Seeing your face like that was just too tempting an offer for me." He just groaned, and leaned over to peck me on the cheek.

"I came in to tell you that Carlisle finalized a date with the inspector. He's checking them out tomorrow. Carlisle wants to know who's coming with him to meet the guy." I sat up a bit straighter, and scanned the future quickly. I saw him finishing the check, and pronouncing the homes livable. I came back to the present, and smiled broadly at Jasper.

"I'm good here, he's going to say they're okay. You can go if you want to." He shook his head.

"Esme and Carlisle are going to be the only ones then. No one else wants to go. They all want to stay here and play with you, cutie." He paused, checked his control, and lightly stroked Bella's cheek. She giggled, and squirmed a little. I hesitated, did a quick confirmation of Jasper's control, and handed her to him. He took her carefully, and then handed her a small toy on the counter. He held it and rattled it gently in front of her. She laughed, and tried to touch it. Jasper turned that in to a game, bringing it close enough for her to touch it and then moving it back. I stood up, happy at his bonding with her. I called quietly for Esme to come in, and she was there in a second. She took the seat I had just vacated, and joined in Bella's game. I trusted Jasper, but still wanted a little assurance. I took the bottle and washed it out, and turned it upside down to dry on the dish towel. I walked out of the kitchen and upstairs. I paused for a moment, deciding who I would grace with my presence. I chose Edward, because I knew he wasn't doing anything important right now. I knew that Rosalie was off in the garage with Emmett, tinkering with her car with Emmett. They were going to go for a drive in a little bit, but it would be a very short one. Rosalie would miss Bella soon enough, and come home to play with her and feed her.

So I went up to Edward's room, and opened his door. He was sitting on his couch, listening to music. He didn't look up at my entrance. I stood there for a minute, waiting for the song to end. When it did, he turned off his stereo and looked over to me.

"Yes?" I just shrugged, and sat down on the edge of his sofa.

"Nothing. I just noticed that you haven't really had much time alone with Bella." He made a face, so quick that even I, a vampire, could barely see it. I narrowed my eyes, but decided to keep the information to myself.

"I was thinking that she should get to know all of us really well in these next few days. It'll just increase the bonding process, if you know what I mean." He nodded, and then stood up.

"Okay then, why don't we just go now?" I thought a moment, and then said, "Better make it snappy. Rosalie's going to be home in a little while, and she's going to want to play with her." He nodded, and followed me out the door. We went downstairs in to the kitchen, where Jaz and Esme were still sitting. I walked over and asked them if we could have her for some time. They agreed, and each went off to do their own thing. I took Bella when Esme handed her to me, and I turned around to face Edward.

"Let's go sit on the couch," I suggested, and he walked over there. I grabbed a few of Bella's toys, and we sat down. Bella looked wide-eyed at the new objects, and she immediately leaned towards the pink one. It made me smile: just a baby, and already favoring one of the best colors in the entire spectrum. I was so proud of her! So Edward picked up that one, and started teasing her a little bit with it. He started smiling when she giggled, and got in to the game with more enthusiasm. By the time Rosalie walked in with Emmett at her side, Edward was laughing along with Bella as she tried to get the toy. She and Emmett both smiled at the same time and Rosalie came over to stand at Edward's side. Bella saw her, and Rose smiled again. She looked imploringly at Edward for a moment, and he conceded, handing over Bella. Rosalie held her, and then walked back to Emmett. He reached out a hand to stroke her head, and she smiled a little. After a moment, Rosalie noticed that she was getting a bit hungry. So she gave Bella to Emmett and was in the kitchen, making a bottle, in the next second. Once the machine beeped, she brought over the bottle along with another bib and burp cloth. She held it to Bella's lips and she drank. She panted little breaths in between sips, and that was when Rosalie burped her. This time, there was no spit up. When Bella was done, there was still some stuff in the bottle, so Rosalie put it in the fridge. Then, Bella started to blink heavily, yawning. So Rose held her and rocked her for a little while, until she fell asleep. It was about time for a nap, anyways.

It had only been about 12 hours, and already we all loved this little girl. It was just something that made your heart swell up, even if it didn't beat anymore.

Carlisle's POV

The next day, the inspector officially passed us at 10:00 am. We officially started moving in at 10:01 am. What can I say? We were eager to move in, and Alice had already seen him passing us, so Esme and I had put some stuff in the car. I had called the house and let them know to pack up the rest of the stuff in the car. It hadn't taken them too long, from what I had gathered. They had started packing yesterday, since Alice had seen the pass.

So they were on the road about five minutes after we got off the phone. They would get here soon enough, and until then, Esme and I would play "Human Couple." In other words, we would ask to get a furniture-moving cart and move some of the stuff up piece by slow piece. It was kind of annoying, because I knew that Esme could have easily taken up both sofas at once. But human women couldn't do that, so she couldn't do that. So after about an hour, we had gotten everything in to the condos. They were nicely spaced, and weren't too bad. I liked them. We still had_ maybe_ about an hour and a half to kill before they all got here, so Esme and I went decoration shopping. She wanted to paint some of the walls in ours and Rose and Emmett's condo, and we could do that today. The smell of paint obviously wouldn't affect us. So we drove over to the nearest store that sold paint, and selected a few colors that we would like for our room. It was a rich red, and it would go on the wall behind where we would put our sofa. Rosalie and Emmett would take the bed, they'd use it more. Changing thoughts now… We got a nice shade of tan for the kitchen, and Esme picked out a beautiful light blue for the bathroom. She would let Emmett and Rose pick out their own bedroom color. The same went for Alice and Jasper, as well as Edward and Bella. However, Esme did pick out the kitchen and bathroom colors for their condo. Their kitchen would be a warm shade of reddish-brown, as Esme put it, and their bathroom a beautiful emerald green. She liked the colors, and knew the others would too. So we bought that paint as well as some rollers and brushes. We ended up buying some painters' tape too, because we knew that it would help a little.

Once back at the building, we saw Alice at the wheel of her car, talking to the security guard at the parking garage entrance. He looked confused, but stepped away from the window and opened the parking gate a moment later. Alice, smiling triumphantly, drove in, followed by Emmett in his car. Both were clearly loaded up with the rest of our items from the old house. We walked in to the lobby with our packages, wondering what Alice had said to the man. But we didn't _really_ want to know. We took the elevator up to our floor, and were soon inside our house. We had taken apart our kitchen table that morning and had assembled it here. So we set down our paint supplies there. In a few minutes, I heard the elevator ding to a stop at the end of the hallway, and I opened the door and stepped in to the hallway. At that moment, I saw Emmett appear around the corner, lugging a sofa on a cart. He nodded his head at me, and I opened the door wide enough for him to bring in the cart. He was followed by Edward, who carried a baby carrier containing Bella and her foldable high chair. I opened the door to their home, and he stepped inside. I had put the couch from his room in to that house, and he sat Bella's carrier down next to it. I called Esme to come and watch Bella in there for a moment while I went down with Edward and Emmett to get more things. We met Alice, Rosalie and Jasper in the elevator on the way down, and they were carting more furniture. Down in the garage, I saw the cars parked directly across from the elevator. We found some stuff that we could pass off as light enough to carry, and went back up with them. We dropped them off in the appropriate condos, and repeated the process again. Between the six of us that went down alternately, we had gotten all the loads out in about half an hour.

Then came the fun part, as Alice would say. We divided up the furniture that would go in each respective room. The beds had to be reassembled, as with the other table. Once the mattresses were set up on each frame, we brought in the new sheets. Bella's crib was the same process, and in no time all that was done. Then, we started putting away all the clothes in to everyone's closets. We got Alice out of the way first, and she walked off with about a quarter of all the stuff. Rosalie, Esme, and Bella had slightly lesser amounts, though still sizeable. I got my stuff with the boys, and nothing was left behind. We all had our clothes and shoes away in our closet in another 15 minutes, so we moved on to the next things. We started putting away Bella's bottles and formula in the kitchen cabinets. When we were done with that, we didn't have much more to do. So Esme decided that it would be a good idea for her and me to start painting our room while the rest of them went out to pick their paint colors. We were nothing if not efficient. Esme had the painting tape up and the furniture covered in our room in about five minutes. I cracked open the paint can and filled the trays. We didn't need to change or cover our clothes; we were skilled in not getting dirty. Esme began painting the middle and lower part of the wall once we had moved the bed away, and I the top. We agreed on this since I was taller and could reach it easier. The wall was finished very quickly, and we waited for it to dry so we could do the second coat. In the mean time, the kids had come home. Alice had selected a few shades of purple for the walls in hers and Jasper's room, ranging from lavender to violet. Edward had chosen a pale green that Bella had pointed to in the catalog. Of course, Alice had said that it went well with the other colors too. Rosalie and Emmett had selected a royal blue for their room that would go on two of the walls. All in all, our condos were very colorful, but somehow they all seemed to correspond. We decided that we would do all the paint in one of the condos first, then when the scent went away, move Bella to our condo to paint the other. We got started on our bathroom, the other room, and the kitchen. By the time we finished, we still had another hour until it was safe to apply the second coat to Esme's and my own bedroom. We surveyed our work, and were pleased with the results. Though the colors were all different, they all looked good in their own way.

Esme and I sat down on the couch in the main room, and Rosalie and Emmett sat at our feet, observing the room. We had decided to leave both of the main rooms blank, and instead decorate the walls with pictures. So with some of the pictures we had brought from the other house, we adorned the walls. It now looked complete, especially when Emmett moved the T.V. in from the kitchen. He set it on the cabinet built in for it, and suddenly the room was done. It felt like we had been living here for months, with all our stuff put away and everything in its place. I smiled at my wife, and she smiled back at me. Bella was in the other home with Alice, Jasper, and Edward, asleep. They were all watching her, entranced with the tiny movements she made as she dreamt. I knew this because I had been in there about five minutes before, checking on how she was doing. I was so happy that in just one day, we had gone from being simply content with life to buzzing with happiness and activity. Bella had brought so much to our lives, and I hoped she would continue to do so for a long time.

Edward's POV

Aw, how mushy of you, Carlisle.

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	4. Year Two

Rosalie's POV – 15 months

I was laying on the bed in the room that I shared with Emmett, playing with Bella. She was giggling, practically in hysterics as I tickled her. Esme came in, drawn to us by the irresistible sound of her laughter. She sat down next to us and watched for another minute. Then she spoke.

"Bella, dinner's ready. Do you want to eat?" Bella looked up, and tried to talk through her spasms of laughter.

"Y-yes, mommy!" Her little lisp was so cute; it made me smile every time I heard her talk. She had learned to say the most basic things, like 'mommy,' 'daddy,' 'yes' 'no,' and sometimes she tried to say our names. It mostly came out like hopeless mush, but it was a start. She was good at speaking for a toddler her age. She had started saying words that we understood around a month and a half ago, and before that she had just babbled. It was a good accomplishment, and we were all proud of her for it. We sat up together, and I handed her over to Esme. She took her over in to our kitchen, where her high chair was placed ready at the table. She went in to it without a struggle, as she sometimes did if she was unhappy. She waited only a moment before Esme appeared from behind the counter-top, holding a bowl of mashed sweet potatoes. Yum. So Esme brought over the can, and set it down in front of Bella. She also brought over a spoon and a bib. I tied the bib around her neck. She tried to pick up the spoon, but failed miserably. What can I say, she tried! So I picked it up and opened the can. I scooped up a tiny spoonful and fed it to her. She ate it eagerly, and I did it again after wiping her mouth. She seemed to like the stuff, and hey, if she liked it, then more power to her. She managed to get about half the can on her face by the time we were done, so I wiped it off with a napkin. She looked pleased with herself, and was smiling away.

I untied her bib and lifted her out of her chair. She was wearing a very soft, warm one-piece, and a shirt under that. I walked across the room with her to the door, and let myself out, first grabbing the other key from the table next to the door. We walked over to my sibling's condo, and let ourselves in. I stepped inside, and Alice greeted me. I walked over to the couch where Jasper and Emmett were sitting, playing a videogame. I raised an eyebrow at my husband, and he managed a quick smile at me before returning to his game. I lounged in the couch for a while, just watching them, until I started to smell a stinky coming on. I looked at Bella, and she had a concentrated look on her face. Emmett and Jasper, absorbed in their game, didn't even notice. Or they did, and just paid no attention to it. I suddenly had an idea. I moved a bit closer to Emmett and let my body press up against his. Alice laughed from the other room. I hit pause on the remote in his hand, and he turned to look at me.

"Baby?" I murmured, and Jasper tactfully but subtly walked off. He answered, "Yes?" still with no clue where I was going with this.

"Can you…" I let my sentence trail off, and he looked at me expectantly.

"Anything you ask, I'll do," He replied, and I smiled; I had him right where I wanted him.

"Can you change Bella's diaper?" You could practically smell his sense of anticlimax. His shoulders slumped, and he begged me 'no' with his eyes.

"No, you haven't changed her once all this time. You have to, it's only fair. Do it for me?" He sighed, closed his eyes, and leaned back against the couch.

"Bring me the wipes!" He said, opening his eyes and sitting up straight. I smirked internally; this was going to be fun.

I walked over and got all the stuff he would need, and laid it out in front of him. He looked at it hopelessly, having no clue where to start. Bella had her finger in her mouth and was watching him, probably wondering why he didn't just change her already. I pointed towards Bella first, and he got it. He laid her down on the ottoman in front of him and unfastened her bodysuit. He pulled her legs out and undid the diaper. His eyes bugged out when he saw the mess, and looked to me for support. I pointed towards the wipes, and he took one out of the package. He wiped her, grimacing, and rolled it up in the dirty diaper. He then pulled clean diaper from the package and slid it under her. He picked up the cream and paused for a moment, unsure how to continue. I sighed and popped the cap on it, and squirted a bit on to my own finger. I applied it and he looked at me thankfully. I wiped my finger on the inside of her diaper and gestured for him to finish up. He stuck the little sticky pads on to the front and sat back. He smiled broadly, having finished his first ever diaper change. He pulled her one-piece back on and zipped it up. He stood Bella up and supported her. She looked cheerful, glad at finally getting out of the nasty stuff. He bobbed her up and down, and she started her laughing fit again. I walked off to find Alice. I wanted to talk to her for a while about a new shopping trip I wanted to go on for Bella. She was going to need some new clothes soon, because she was really growing quickly.

I found her lounging on her bed with Jasper, talking about what new stocks she wanted to invest in. He was listening attentively, and they both looked up as I walked in. Jasper walked out of the room, presumably to play with Bella with Emmett. Alice sat up and scooted over to make room for me on the bed. She immediately got in to the discussion, having seen what I wanted to talk about. I got immersed in the plans, when and with whom, and before I knew it, it was nine. I wrapped up out discussion and went to see if Bella was still awake. I didn't smell her in the living room, but I caught wind of it towards Edward's and her room. So she had already been put down. I walked off to find Emmett. It really wasn't that fair, teasing him earlier; I needed to make it up to him…

Edward's POV

I was sitting on my bed, watching Bella's chest move up and down evenly. I watched and thought. This little girl had fit in so well already; it was like she was made just for us. She had only reacted once from our cold skin, as Carlisle had told me, when he had held her the first time. She didn't know that much about what regular humans looked like, so she probably thought that we were normal, I suppose. I only say that because obviously, I can't read her mind. And that's not the only thing that's different with her for me. The first time I smelled her, I was hit by a wave of bloodlust so hard that I couldn't believe it. I restrained myself barely, and I don't believe that anyone noticed my fight for control. I knew that she was no normal human, because I'm around them every day. Her blood held extra potency for me: it was like one hundred times normal blood for me. I pushed the feeling down, submerged it in restraining thoughts. I refused to let anything slip past my shield. I even held her, by that time holding on to my normal façade by my fingernails. Now, I've speculated what her blood could hold for me. I remember something Carlisle once told me, from the time he spent with the Volturi. It was about "blood singers," humans whose blood was extra-strong for a vampire. I believed this to be the cause of my reaction to her blood, because I can see no other possibilities. I could resist the smell of it now, since I had conducted some desensitizing rounds. It had worked fairly well, and I could almost enjoy her as the rest of the family did; I always posed slightly more a risk.

Bella turned over in her sleep, bringing her thumb to her mouth. She was so cute when she was sleeping, but then again she was cute all of the time. But I saw a sweet innocence, untainted by the harsh reality of real life, imprinted on her face. I sealed this moment in my memory, to remember when she was acting on her hormone waves, screaming or being moody. I leaned back in my bed with the book I was reading, turned to my bookmark, and began reading.

A few hours later, I heard Bella stir, and she sat up in her bed, blinking and rubbing her eyes. She started to cry softly, and I was at her crib side in a second, wondering what was wrong. She saw me and reached out her arms, wanting to be held. I picked her up and my eyes widened. I could feel that she was really hot, running a fever. Her face was flushed, and her mouth was in a pout. I ran my hand down her cheek, and this seemed to help a little bit. It felt to me to be about 102 degrees. I opened up her one-piece down the middle and fanned her. As I did this I was walking out the door of our room. I walked in to the dimly lit family room, where Alice and Jasper sat. Alice was already at my side, and Jasper was on her tail, feeling Bella's emotions. She took Bella in to her arms and held her, murmuring softly while she concentrated on the future.

After a moment, she looked up to me and said, "She's sick. She'll be better in three days. It's a flu." I wasn't all that surprised, because I had been to medical school twice. But I did prefer that Carlisle check my diagnosis; it was just a security thing. Alice had seen Carlisle's conclusion, so then it was done. I took her back in to my arms and went over to tell my parents. They were appropriately concerned, and fussed over Bella for a little while. Rosalie had also come out of her room and was worrying over her too.

Bella herself was looking paler than normal, and wasn't speaking like she normally was. When she did, her voice sounded hoarse and she would wince in pain. Esme noticed this and left the room for a moment to return with a cup of cool apple juice. Bella took the cup and drank lightly from it, but stopped after a bit, presumably because it hurt to drink. Esme took her from me and tried to put her to sleep, and it worked. Bella's eyes began to droop and she yawned widely. Rosalie extended her arms, and Esme complied, giving our poor sick baby to her. She went back in to her room, where Emmett was waiting in the doorway, watching us. I went back to my room and picked my book back up. I started reading, but was unable to focus enough. My mind kept thinking of too many things to count, and I decided I needed a break. I thought about going hunting, and compared that to just going on a walk. It was about two in the morning, so I probably look out of place. I would just hunt then. There was a spaced out area of woodland not too far from the edge of the city, and so I settled on that. I grabbed the keys to my Volvo and went out, not bothering to say where I was going. Alice had already seen it anyways.

I was on the highway, heading out east about 5 minutes later. Taking the stairs was so much easier than taking the elevator, it's much faster. I took the right that would leave me to some good hunting grounds. It was March, and no human in their right mind would be camping at this time of the year. I pulled to a stop in the designated spot, and hopped out. I walked in to the thick tree line directly in front of me, and smelled the air. There was a faint hint of some elk a bit farther north and an appetizing trail of hungry bear scent eastward. I went after the second trail, craving the hot, wet taste of it in my throat.

As I ran, I passed a few other scents. I smelled bird, rabbit, and squirrel. I remember, one time Emmett had dared me to eat a squirrel. He was curious about the taste, but didn't want to try them himself. So of course, he made me try it, because Jasper was "conveniently" not there. Dang future-seeing vampire. I had gone out to the woods that had been near out house at that time and caught a squirrel. Emmett has watched me drink its blood, which really hadn't taken that long. It was what, eight inches tall, not including tail? It has had a nutty flavor, similar to what it smelled like. I told this to him, and he had picked one right off a nearby branch and tried it. He had somewhat liked it, but decided it wasn't his taste. Carlisle, however, had really enjoyed it when he tried it. It was now his "snack" of sorts, when he was getting a bit thirsty but not enough to drink a whole animal.

I eventually came about 100 feet away from the bear, downwind and behind a tree, hidden. I heard it lumbering around, searching for food. I scaled the tree, not needing branches to keep me up. I went about halfway up, since it was a rather short tree, and calculated my angle that would put me on top of the bear. I could hear its thoughts, and though they were primitive and not in any language with words, I could understand them. It was hungry. It was cold. The feelings came sharply to me, making me think along with what the bear felt. I sat there for a full minute just relishing in the simple, uncomplicated thoughts of the bear. But eventually, I switched in to predator mode, my instinct telling me to stop sitting around and catch my prey. I dug one hand in to the bark behind me, and lowered my body in to a crouch. Then, I jumped off.

For a second, my body was suspended in the air, weightless and unaffected by gravity's harsh pull. But then I fell back towards the earth, and I quickly aligned myself. With each seconds' passing, I adjusted my angle enough to land in the perfect position. When I had half a second left in my fall, I reached out and wrapped my hands around the neck of the bear. When I landed, my feet absorbing my shock silently against the frozen ground, the bear's neck was snapped in my hands. I put my mouth to its neck, where the pulse point normally was, and bit in deeply. I drank until I was full, and then I stepped back. I felt stronger, renewed, though I hadn't noticed that I was weaker before; probably because thee is no real "weakness" for a vampire. I stood up and made a resolution not to keep such long intervals between my feedings. I straightened my clothes and ran the short distance back to my car. As I sat in the drivers' seat, I paused for a moment and let myself think about something I had never really bother to think about before:

I knew it was stupid, but I still wondered, who was that bear? Did she have a mate? Cubs? Who's 'somebody' was she? I knew that she had just been an animal, with primitive thoughts and basic actions, but even bears had something of a system. I might have just stolen away some guy bear's mate, or maybe a cub's mother. I suddenly felt a bit guilty about my feed, though it was natural and better than the way some vampires fed. I may have just ripped apart a bear's family. I dwelled on this as I started my car and drove home, not even paying attention to the speed limit. My thoughts changed to something else as I walked over the threshold of my home, but the experience stuck with me for a long time after that.

Jasper's POV

I sat with Bella the whole first night she was sick, cooling her off with my hand whenever I felt she got too hot. Alice sat next to me, watching my face as I tempered a bit with Bella's emotions. I felt her tiredness but her inability to sleep, so I made the first one take over. She could sleep; I would keep her cool so she wouldn't awake. After a while, Alice asked if she could hold her for a little while, and I agreed. I stuck around, wanting to keep her asleep for a little while longer. It was still only five in the morning. I turned on the T.V. for something to do, and it automatically came on to a news station. I watched it without interest, just wanting to pass the time for a while. Eventually it was an appropriate time for Bells to wake up, so I left the room. A few moments after that, I heard her start to stir, her heart speeding up a bit. I heard Alice asking if she wanted any juice, and heard Bella reply with a shaky, scratchy 'yes.' I took a carton from the fridge and poured some in to a cup I grabbed off the counter. I brought it over to Bella with a small cloth in case she spilled. She took a few sips and winced a little when it hurt her sore throat. But she drank a few more sips, and then set it down on the table in front of her.

Her tiny face was pulled down in a slight pout, and I was determined to get it off her face, so I went over and got a few toys and books from her play area in the corner. I sat down next to her, and gave her an option: me reading to her or playing with her. She picked the book option, probably not wanting to be very active. I was getting a lethargic feeling from her, and could also sense that she disliked the feeling. I picked up the book, which happened to be "Barbie: One Pink Shoe." I cursed myself internally for not picking out something better, while Alice fought a smile. I opened the book to the title page, and began to read. By the end, Bella looked happy, I was grinding my teeth, and Edward, Alice, Rosalie, and Emmett were all laughing at me. Edward had walked out of his room when he heard me start, and dashed out of the room. He had returned a moment later with Rose and Em at his heels and a camera in his hands. They had started laughing from one look at the book, and hadn't stopped since. Edward had taken tons of photos of me reading the book, the title of it, and his brother's and sisters' reactions. Honestly, if we weren't vampires, they would have been dead from oxygen loss. Emmett was almost literally rolling on the floor. I didn't get what was all that funny. It was just poor Barbie, trying to find her shoe. I mean, it wasn't her fault. It was the dog's fault, he had stolen it- I realized my mistake as soon as I had made it. Edward was actually rolling on the floor, and he was explaining it as quickly as he could between spasms of laughter to his siblings. Bella was laughing too, though she didn't know the exact reason. But seeing her brothers and sisters react the way they were was probably highly amusing to her. I stood up with as much dignity as I could, holding Bella on my hip, and was almost out the door when Carlisle and Esme decided to show up. Emmett howled even harder and Rosalie took the pleasure of explaining my embarrassment to them. I made to walk out of the family room again when Alice stopped me. She was still giggling, but she managed ask Bella a question. She asked whether she wanted me to read her another book or not. Bella, (God help me) said yes, and looked at me expectantly. I groaned and sat back down on the couch, and told Edward to get me a book. Oops. He got me the sequel to the Barbie book, "One stormy night." Joy to the world. I closed my eyes, sighed in defeat, and prepared for another round of my family's amusement at my cost.

About two hours later, Bella was laying down on her mat, looking up to the dangly-thing above her. She reached out her arms to touch it, but couldn't reach. Rosalie, lying down next to her, brought it down closer for her. She grabbed it solidly, and when it rattled, she promptly let go in surprise. Rosalie laughed, the sound ringing around the room like bells, and Bella looked at her in wonder. Rosalie noticed, and lifted her to rest on her stomach. She giggled, and started to amuse herself with Rose's hair. Alice was standing nearby, watching them have play time. She heard Bella snuffle a few times, and she brought over a few tissues from a box on the cabinet behind her. She handed them to Rosalie, who instructed Bella to blow. She complied, or rather tried, and Rose caught it in the tissue. She tried again, repeating the process until it was all out. Bella then returned to play.

A little while after that, I sensed a hunger coming from Bella. I told Alice, and she started opening a can of baby food. Rosalie lifted Bella up and stood with her. She walked her in to the high chair and put a bib around her neck. She left when Alice came over, armed with a baby spoon and napkin. Alice was assigned to the task of feeding, while Rose went off to be with Emmett. Edward was studying for something; he was taking a few courses at a small college right now. Carlisle and Esme had gone out about an hour before, each to do their own thing. Carlisle had to work, and Esme wanted to see some architectural display downtown. After about ten minutes, I sensed Bella's sleepiness and heard Alice unsnap her bib and pull her out of the chair. She walked in to the room rocking her, and soon enough she fell asleep. She took her over to Edward, who agreed to be her "air-conditioner" for her nap.

Alice came back over to me and snuggled in to my arms. I turned us so that she was lying on top of my while I was sideways on the couch. She took a lock of my hair and twirled it around on one finger. Her free elbow propped her body up on my chest, and a musing expression covered her face. I smiled and swiped some hair away from her eyes so I could see her face better. She tilted her head one way, then another, and finally looked down at me.

"Do you love me?" She asked, though of course she knew the answer.

"Yes," I answered with mock solemnity. She smiled, and traced her finger around my chin.

"Just checking," She murmured, and brought her face down to mine. My lips met hers, softly embracing them. Our lips moved together in synchronization, only the soft sound of our even breathing surrounding us. Every time we kiss, I treasure it as though it were our first. She is my one-and-only, and I will never take any moment with her for granted. She is all I see, all I feel, all I know. I forever treasure my little pixie, because even though she can sometimes get on my nerves, she knows that she can always come back in to the circle of my arms.

* * *

**There you go, a little bit of love between what I believe to be the cutest couple :) Hooray for fluff! And yes, yes I know that was super short. Do you people prefer longer or shorter chapters? Tell me in a review! Also, just a note here, in the first part of this chapter, when Emmett had to change Bella's diaper, that was a suggestion from the reviewer, **_**The love of hate. **_**Yup, I put that in there just for you :) Alright, so thanks for reading! I loves you all, please continue to read and review! Yay! Over and out.**


	5. Year Three

Alice's POV – Month 24

I was sitting at the kitchen table, planning a party for Bella. She would be turning two tomorrow, and I wanted her to have an awesome party. I was going to theme it pink – decorations, presents, everything! I knew that she would love it, that kid was pleasing me already by loving the color pink. I looked ahead and saw her absolutely overjoyed when she saw it.

I started with the smallest detail, food. I knew that it would be pointless for her to get an entire cake, who would eat it? So I was planning on getting a single-person sized cupcake thing, just a bit bigger. As for presents, Carlisle and Esme had already gotten theirs. Rosalie and Emmett were discussing theirs, and Edward had just gone out to get his. Jasper and I knew what ours was going to be. We were getting her an easel-type thing, with crayons and paints for some butcher paper. I had learned that little kids loved to color, because I had spent some time at a day care once, doing volunteer work for high school. They had all loved to play with paints and markers, drawing to their hearts content on the thick white paper. So we would get her that, and I was sure already that she would love it. I was going to go out with Jasper in a few minutes to get the decorations, so that was covered too. The guest list was redundant, obviously, because we had no one that we wanted to invite. So that was about it.

I grabbed my keys and Jasper was at my side as I walked out the door. We took the elevator, and walked out when it reached the parking garage. I pressed a button on the remote and the lights of my pretty red Lamborghini blinked twice. I went over to it and sat on the hood, stroking it a second. I loved my little beauty. Jasper chuckled for a second, the sound bringing me out of my reverie. I grinned at him, and then hopped in on the drivers' side. I turned my key in the ignition and sped out of the spot. I exited the garage in a slower manner and smiled at the guard on duty, who winked back. I turned my head to Jasper and made a face. He just laughed and shook his head. I rolled my eyes and turned the corner. I couldn't go really fast here, because it wasn't the freeway, but I still went fast enough.

In a matter of minutes I had arrived at the party store and found a spot right up front. Jasper got out first and opened the door for me. The sky was an ashen gray, as I knew it would be. I looped my arm through his and we walked in to store together. I then dragged him around as I got everything I needed. Pink table cloth, pink streamers, pink party hats (Bella would like them, and it would make good blackmail material), and pink confetti. I walked up to the register. The woman behind it looked bored, and when she looked up the look on her face changed quickly from surprised to intimidated. I looked to Jasper and his mouth was set, his eyes focused. I could almost feel the emotions pass from him to her. The lady meekly rang up my purchases, told me the cost, and scanned my card. It went through, and she asked for my signature on the receipt. I pulled out a pen from my purse and signed it. I smiled at her as she handed me my bags, and I could hear her heart and breathing speed up. I handed my bags to Jasper and he obligingly carried them to the car for me. He opened the trunk and put them in. I was already in my seat when he opened his door. I gave him a quick kiss, a thank you for helping me, and drove back to the condo.

Inside, I made sure that Bella was asleep before coming inside. She wouldn't get what I was doing anyways, but I was cautious anyways. I shoved the bags in the hall closet, where they would stay until tomorrow afternoon. I absolutely could not wait for this party!

Alice's POV – The next day

Everything was ready. It was around four in the afternoon. I had enlisted the help of Esme and Rose with decorating, and they had done a fabulous job. Emmett and Edward had taken Bella to the park for a while, trying to teach her how to throw a ball while simultaneously keeping this a surprise for her. I had also asked Carlisle if he could come home a bit early tonight, and of course he'd agreed. So we were waiting for him to come home, and in the meantime I was making a cupcake-cake thingy. I did a fair job at it, which for a vampire was practically gourmet cooking for a human. Rosalie had asked if she could frost it, and I had allowed it. I watched her make little pink swirls on the top, put some sprinkles on it, and stick two unlit candles in it, both of them pink and white streaked. The dining room was the definition of the word "pink," and Esme was standing around, seeing if she had missed any spot with her crepe paper and balloons. I reassured her that it looked fine, and went off to find Jasper.

I brought him over to the dining room where Rose had drifted to, once done with her cupcake. Jasper flinched a little bit when he saw the room. He had avoided it since I had announced the start of decorating, and now was averting his eyes to the floor, the only non-pink zone in the room. I said to them all that Carlisle was going to be home in two minutes, and Emmett, Bella, and Edward in five. I told them to bring their presents up and put them in the center of the table, and have Esme artistically arrange them. Edward had left his present in the care of moi, and now I brought it over. Emmett's and Rose's sat in the center, big enough to house a Rottweiler. Esme added hers and Carlisle's to the side, and when I handed her Edward's, she flipped it to sit upright on the side of the big one. I then gave her mine and Jazz's, which, after pursing her lips in thought for a second, she leaned against the wall. It was too big to fit on the table normally.

Carlisle walked in a minute later, as I had predicted. I went over and took his jacket, and draped it over a chair in the family room. I instructed him to stand in the spot I showed his, as with the others. I had just assumed my place when the door opened. Emmett had Bella up on his hip, and I could clearly see her face. The second she saw all the pink, she squealed happily and made Em put her down. She ran over and looked up and around her. She then demanded he pick her back up so she could see all the other things. She was giggling, and then she caught sight of her family. She told Emmett to put her back down, and she ran over and hugged each of us. Her eyes shining brightly, she asked me to pick her up this time. I did as she asked, and then set her in her chair. The rest of us all sat down.

Bella first saw the party hats, which she grabbed. She asked Rose, who was nearest, to put hers on. Then she made the rest of us do the same, as I had predicted. The sight of Emmett in a frilly, pink, cardboard hat was almost too much to bear silently. Edward snuck off for a moment, and I saw what he was going to do. I really did laugh this time, and everyone looked at me. When Emmett turned to look at me, his face dumbfounded, Edward zipped in to the room and snapped a picture faster than Emmett could realize what had happened, which was saying something. We all laughed together, including Bella. Apparently, the sight of Emmett in the hat amused her as much as us. She really was one of the family.

After that was over, she started to open her presents. She unwrapped Edward's first, ripping the paper clumsily but as best she could. What tumbled out of the mess of shredded paper was a set of books, all about princesses. Bella had recently taken an interest to these "Disney" princesses, which were all the rage among toddlers those days. Each book was a colorfully illustrated work, with simple stories that Bella would probably have all of us read to her in the coming time. We told her who had given it to her, and she hopped down from her chair and hugged Edward again. He hugged her back, smiling, and then she returned to her chair. She reached for the next one, Carlisle and Esme's, and started her attempt at opening it again. Everyone wanted to see what she had gotten, but no one helped her. This was her challenge; she was going to do it by herself. Eventually, she had uncovered a set of bright, multicolored puzzles. They had big, easy-to-grip pieces that fit in to hollows shaped for each piece. They all had a theme: a farm scene for one, a jungle for another, and a customized one that had her full name, Isabella, made in to pieces. Bella looked pleased and eager to start them, and she got up and hugged her mother and father. When she came back in to her seat, the largest present, Em's and Rose's, was already in front of her. When she had torn the paper off, she saw a pink chest decorated with hearts in varying colors. She then saw the label, and the accompanying picture of what was inside. It was a dress up set, including outfits, accessories, play makeup, and shoes. She smiled hugely and repeated the previous process of hugging. Finally, when she was expecting no more, I pulled mine and Jasper's from the wall and towards her. She got off her chair to open it, and when she had finally gotten all the paper off, what she saw made her joyous. The easel came complete with paints, markers, and crayons, in addition to a miniature artist's smock. She hugged Jasper and I, and then got back on her chair.

As if on cue, Esme disappeared in to the kitchen, only to return with the cupcake. She set it in front of Bella after holding a lit match to both of the candles. She instructed Bella on what to do, and she nodded seriously, as if bowing out the candles was a top secret task in which Esme had passed to her. After singing to her, she blew them out, looking extremely pleased with herself. Carlisle caught the exact moment on film, and then snapped some more pictures of her with her gifts and with pink frosting on her face. After another forty five minutes of fun, Bella looked kind of tired, though she claimed otherwise. We knew better, and soon Rose had whisked her off to change in to p.j.'s. When she came back, it was about time for our routine.

Almost every night, before Bella went to bed, we would sit up with her for a while. Bella was always curious as to what we did during our days, and we would sate her curiosity. It was not only her time though, but also everyone's time. We would share what we had done, and they would all have a different take on it. Someone might gripe about how badly something had gone with them, and then someone else would comment on a better point of the subject, like something good that had come out of it. Bella would also tell us all about her day. That usually involved a lot of laughing and smiles, because her point of view on the earth was so innocent and free that no one could resist thinking what would happen if the world really worked that way, or if everyone thought the same way as her. Bella was so animated when she told us; it was like every tiny achievement meant something momentous to her. It was an enjoyed time, and tonight was no different.

Bella told us about the park that she had gone to, and about the ball that she had almost succeeded in throwing. She also told us about her race with Emmett back to the car, and how she had won. She said that Edward had let her ride up on his shoulders, looking for all the world like a typical brother and sister just having fun at the park. She talked about the baby swings that Emmett had put her in for a while, swinging her higher than the other toddlers. Emmett broke in for a moment, snickering, to tell us how the other moms had looked scandalized and the kids jealous. Bella had enjoyed her day, from the looks of it.

Carlisle told us about his day, involving an emergency surgery from the E.R. He said that it was two crash victims who had been run in to from behind by a semi. One of them had a serious wound in his side from the steering wheel, and Carlisle had gone in and repaired the organ it had damaged and closed it. His companion had a head injury, a cracked skull. He had secured it and didn't want to put a metal plate in, so he had left her to see if she would improve over the night. If she didn't, then he would have to. After the man had awoken, he proved to be a cheerful and witty guy, even when recovering from a bad accident. He had given all the appropriate information, and when Carlisle left he was asking about the girl.

Esme had been at an old house on the outskirts of town, looking to see what she could restore and redo to make it beautiful again. Esme firmly believed that anything could be fixed, and this house was no exception. The railing on the porch was hardly a railing; most of the bars were missing or broken. Thee ground floor was okay for the most part, nothing much worse than a few cracked tiles and caked on grime. The upper floor was horrendous though, with many holes in the floor and the appliances, though they were few, were all spotted with age and in some cases gone. Esme had taken note of all this, and even when she had added up the time and labor it would take to fix, she had taken on the job.

I contributed by telling about the classes I was taking. I took a few early classes at the university, mostly about design and fashion. I complained that the "dweebs that take the class have about as much talent as blind gorillas," and that I didn't even know why I was taking the class. Rose pointed out that I was then the best student in the class, and I grudgingly agreed. I still sighed and said that I could have taught the professor, who clearly could have been a sewage worker at one point in time for all she knew about the fashion industry. I showed a few of the outfit blueprints I had created, drawing appropriate praise from the girls and Jasper.

Rose talked about the place she and Emmett had gone "hiking" before they had come home to prepare for the party. She said it was a mountain, completely devoid of any humans and full of all kinds of large game. Emmett had found a bear, beginning to begin its winter storage of food. It had been kind of on the small side, but still was large enough to sate his appetite. Rose had gone after a few lionesses. She also talked about a nice shoe store she had found on the way back from getting some hiking supplies, and she and I got in to a whole side conversation on which brands were most in style then. It lasted ten minutes until Emmett got bored and made a paper airplane out of a random loose sheet of paper. He showed it to Bella, and then threw it. It spun around in circles for a minute until stopping abruptly on Esme's forehead. Emmett apologized to her, while she proceeded to open it.

"Emmett, that was a bill!" She said, and straightened it out. Carlisle chuckled and took it from her and set it on the counter. He went over to Bella, who was sitting on Rose's lap, still giggling about the airplane incident. He picked her up and spun her in a circle above his head. She laughed harder, and then hugged him when he brought her down to his shoulder. He told her it was time for bed, and she shrugged, not caring much. Give her a few years, it'll be different. I reached for her, wanting to put her down tonight. He allowed me that, and I smiled widely at her as I got a hold of her. I had her say goodnight to everyone, and they back to her. They all started to drift in separate directions, Jasper following me. I went in to our house and was in Bella's room in another moment. I flicked on her light and brought her over to the crib. She still slept in it because she had a tendency to roll off the edge, as we discovered one past night. She wanted to try out sleeping in a "big girl bed," so we had her sleep in Carlisle and Esme's bed. Esme, sitting in the chair across the room, not wanting to get her cold, had looked up and noticed Bella going off the edge just in time. Bella hadn't even missed a breath, and Esme had been relieved. So until she could sleep without rolling off, she was staying in the crib.

Bella went down relatively quickly tonight, which left me more Jasper time. I turned and walked in to his arms, and he carried me to our room.

Emmett's POV – month 30

Bella was one hell of a little girl. She had more energy than the energizer bunny on Redbull, constantly running all over the place. She was a bit creative, as her paintings sometimes showed. She cared for people, loving to hug us whenever we made her happy. She was inadvertently funny a lot of the time, not realizing why making Edward over in to a drag queen was roll-on-the-floor-clutching-your-sides-funny. Oh, that was going in the yearbook. She had a good imagination, sometimes making believe that she was a "pwetty pwincess twapped in a castle fawr, fawr away" for hours at a time. Honestly, this kid was pretty interesting to be around, for a human.

Rosalie was really happy a lot of the time, totally going along with whatever she wanted. She would get up with her, play with her, do whatever the kid wanted. It made me smile to see them sitting on the floor, playing with dolls until Bella got tired of them, or she got thirsty or something. I loved my wife, and Bella was the closest thing she had to a child of her own. So it was almost as if Rose and I were playing as much as Bella did, pretending for a moment that we were just Mommy and Daddy, having fun with Baby. It broke my heart that I couldn't give Rosalie what she desired so, but I made do as best I could. And I got the feeling that she never resented me for it.

One lazy Saturday, Bella seemed to have twice the energy as normal, which, let me tell you, is enough energy to power a third world country for a month. I'm not exaggerating. So to run off some of her extra energy, I decided to hit the little park down the street with her and Rose.

Bella was excited at the idea, of course, and she immediately dressed up to go out. But her princess tutu and a bright yellow rain slicker on top of a neon green shirt were not Alice's idea of a proper outfit. She fixed up Bella to match her standards, much to Bella's dismay. She stomped her foot a few times, but she got over it as soon as we were out the door.

In the elevator, Bella stood happily on the ground, enjoying the slight feeling of being dropped, however slowly, to the ground. In the lobby, she toddled towards the front door, waving at the doorman who waved right back. Rose was tailing her closely; I stood farther back, walking casually. The man tipped his head in my direction, acknowledging me.

We decided to walk to the park, as it was only a block or two away. Once there, Bella immediately demanded to be put down from Rose's arms and grabbed her hand, leading her over to the kiddie swings as fast as her little legs could take her. It was kind of cloudy overhead, as it was then almost November, but no other mothers and fathers were deterred. They had all stopped what they were doing as Rose and I walked up, but continued, warily sneaking glances of us when they thought be couldn't see them.

Rosalie picked Bella up and put her in to the swing, and she gripped the chains tightly with both hands. Rose stepped behind her and began to push her, lightly. Bella clapped her hand together, momentarily taking her hands from the chains, something that must have seemed really scary to her. I stood in front of her and taught her how to kick her legs so she could go a bit higher. She tried it, and screamed in delight when she went up about six inches more. This continued for another ten minutes, until Bella spotted the jungle gym. She pointed furiously at it, and I understood. I told Rose what she wanted, and she agreed to let me go on ahead with her.

I ran at Bella's speed over to the structure, where some other kids were playing. They all looked to be around her age. She climbed the stairs on the side, and went right up to the biggest slide attached: A giant, plastic, orange slide curling in to spirals all the way to the ground. Bella ran up to it from a few feet above my head, and instructed me to stay at the bottom. I told her I would, and she stuck her feet in to the slide. She disappeared from view, and a few seconds later, she appeared at the bottom, laughing like crazy. I smiled at her and moved forward to pick her up, but before I could get there, something hit her from behind. She flew off the end of the slide and I caught her, barely managing to keep it slow enough to pass for a human. I hoisted her up on to my shoulder, cradling her in one arm, as she burst in to tears. I asked her if she hurt, and she pointed to a spot in the middle of her back. I lifted her shirt a bit in the back and saw the beginnings of a bruise forming, still invisible to mortal eyes.

I looked down to see what had shot out of the slide, and I saw a boy that looked about six or seven. He had brownish-orange hair, and dark freckles across his face. He was wearing a smart little smirk, probably from pulling that stunt he just pulled. I knew it was no accident, because out of the corner of my eye, I had seen him watching Bella as she played. He had been next in line to go on the slide, and he looked like he knew perfectly well that you had to wait your turn in line. And even if he hadn't, you couldn't deny that he had meant to push her out, because his feet shouldn't have left a mark if it was accidental. I glared at him, and when he caught my look, the smirk was wiped off his face, and he stiffened. Rosalie came running up from where she had been standing at the fence, having heard Bella's cries. She immediately took her in to her arms, trying to comfort her as she gently rubbed the spot where she had been hurt.

A small commotion was forming here, with some parents alarmed at Bella's crying. The boy, still sitting in the mouth of the slide, looked petrified as the people slowly started to crowd the area. He stepped out, and when he caught sight of someone coming up, his cocky smile returned. As the man walked up to him, he swapped it for a more serious look, but still a hint of it remained. I took the man to be his father, because his son was a spitting image of him. He looked bored, but the second he looked up at me, his expression got a bit more interested.

"What happened here?" He asked, and the boy answered the question before I could.

"I was going on the slide, and I didn't know that little girl was there, and I accidentally bumped her a little. On accident."

I glared at him, because it sure as hell was not what happened. The man looked back up to me, and spoke.

"Okay, one, don't look at my boy like that. He's just a little kid, and I'm sure that this all was an accident. You don't need to glare at him like he mauled her or something. Your little girl over there can't seem to stop crying, and if you ask me, that's the sign of a truly spoiled child. My son, Trevor, barely touched her, as he said, and I believe him, because Trevor never lies. Now please, if you could just shut up her infernal crying, we can go back to the peace we had before?" Some of the parents looked outraged at his words, while on or two others looked like they agreed with him. Of course, they were the ones that hadn't seen it.

"You haven't heard out side of the story yet," I said slowly, menacingly. I could visibly see his shudder, but no one else noticed it.

"What I saw was my girl, Bella, going down the slide on her turn. She made it to the bottom and just as I was about to pick her up, your son came barreling down. His feet were extended straight out, and he kicked her. Had I not been standing directly in front of the slide, waiting for Bella, she would have fallen and could have hurt herself badly. As it is, she is obviously in pain right now." I gestured towards her, still wailing in Rose's arms. She stepped forward, and I could see what emotion formed in his eyes: lust. No one, and I mean no one, especially someone whose kid just hurt Bella, looks at my wife that way. I took Bella from her arms, just for a second, and turned her over in my arm. I lifted the back of her shirt again, and this time, the bruise was well on its path to formation. I was sure that humans could see it now.

And see it they did. There were some gasps as they took in Bella's injury, and murmuring about it as well. But Trevor's dad seemed unaffected, and his eyes told me this as he looked to me once more.

"My son did not cause those marks. I don't know what did, but they look older to me. No seven year old child could cause a mark like that. But other people, grown people can." He stopped there, and I was half a millisecond away from tearing in to his skull and ripping out his organs, one at a time. I hear Rosalie's low snarl beneath me, and I knew she had the same thoughts. This man had just blatantly accused us of abusing out child. I stepped forward, but surprisingly, I felt Rose's hand on my arm, holding me back. I consented, stepping back, but I kept my eyes locked on his. I kept it up until he grew uncomfortable, shifting his gaze down.

"Did you just blatantly accuse my _wife _and I of abusing our own _child?_" I continued on, not waiting for an answer.

"I pray to every figure in every religion on the Earth that the day I even think about hitting this child, or anyone else in my family for that matter, they may strike me dead where I stand. Do not _ever _accuse me of that again." There was fear in his eyes.

"I can see that you have spoiled your son so much, and believe that his every word is the gospel truth, that he can mold you like putty. You're not going to believe the actual truth in a million years; you only believe the BS your son spews at you. But the truth's there, it's real, and every other person standing here believes it. So please, do the world a favor, and try to salvage what little, if any, good there is left in your pitiful excuse for a son. Send him to a military school or something, but remove him as far away as possible from society as you can. Don't ever even get within 20 feet of any of us any more. Leave while you still have your dignity… wait no never mind it's gone." He had turned beet red, and the onlookers snickered at the last comment that I hadn't been able to resist adding in. He took his son's hand, from which the boy promptly pulled away from, and told him, "Let's go." Some people cheered, and a mother or two tentatively came up to see Bella's injury up close. After the scene, Bella, still sniffling, lost interest in the place. She wanted to go home and see Carlisle, who normally was the one who looked at her "boo-boos." We agreed, and started walking home.

On the way back, Rosalie verbally abused the man in a way that would put truckers to shame. She said it very low, so Bella could catch nothing of it. I agreed with every word she said, and added my own after a while. By the time we were done, we had arrived at our front door. Rose unlocked it for me, and we were immediately met by Alice, Jasper, Edward and Esme. Edward had been able to read my mind with what was happening at the same time Alice had the vision. The boy hadn't consciously made the decision to hurt Bella until a few seconds before it happened, so she hadn't seen anything. Esme took her baby, worried that some serious damage had been done. Carlisle came home a little while after that, and after examining her, he found nothing wrong, just bad bruising. We all breathed a small sigh of relief, and by then Bella was tired. Who could blame her, she had an emotional day. So Rose and I put her to sleep tonight, taking care to lay her on her side where she wasn't right on top of the bruise. She awarded us each a hug for helping her today, and we hugged her right back. After she fell asleep, Rosalie went over and sat on Edward's bed, patting the spot next to her for me. Edward would be a bit pissed, but he wouldn't mind too much, we hoped.

"I was scared," She admitted to me after I had brought her in to my arms, trying to will away the sadness that stained her beautiful features and made her voice husky with tension.

"I was scared that something awful had happened, though I knew with you there that it's impossible. I thought, however irrational it might seem to you and others, that I had failed in the role of mother that I want to play so badly. I thought 'What kind of mother lets her own child get hurt?'" She stopped there, her perfect voice sounding like it would have cracked if it were possible. I held her tighter, and assured her that every mother feels that way if her child is injured.

"And luckily, she wasn't seriously hurt. You do just fine as a mother, Rose. You're the best damn mother anyone could want! And I must admit, you're not too bad as a wife/girlfriend/fiancée either." I said the end with a cheeky smile, and she couldn't resist smiling back. She sighed, and leaned farther in to me.

"I was just scared. You can understand that, can't you?" I nodded.

"I understand completely. And that other dude made me want to kick his ass from here to next Tuesday." I growled the last part, and I felt her nod against my chest.

"Me too. It took all my willpower and some that wasn't mine to stop myself, let alone you. But we made it through alright, I guess." It was my turn to nod, and I felt her relax more.

"I love you, babe," I said in to her hair, and she put a spin on her usual reply.

"Te quiero tambien, mi amor. Te quiero siempre." *

"Spanish? The language of love?" I asked skeptically, and I knew she rolled her eyes.

"That's French, baby," She murmured, and I laughed quietly.

"Right, I knew that." I said, and she laughed in return.

"Either way, I still love you," I whispered, and she pulled herself up a bit, enough to reach my lips.

"I love you too," She said, and kissed me.

* * *

*** "Te quiero tambien, mi amor. Te quiero siempre." Means: "I love you too, my love. I love you forever." Sorry, had to show off some of my skillz at Espanol :)**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it :) Are you eager for Bella to learn the secrets of vampirism? So am I! If you want the epic scene where she learns the truth about her family, only early, then vote in the poll in my profile and I shall post it next chapter if I get at least fifteen votes. I don't ask for much… :'( Also, my counting for the chapters goes like this: It's done by each year she is with the Cullens, so therefore at the Year one chapter, it's her first year with them, correct? Yes. So that's how I count, just in case anyone was confuzzled. So, other than that, I'm just going to say the following things: 1) if anyone has anything specific they want to see in this story, I am totally open to suggestions. Remember, there are no wrong suggestions :) Except for lemons, won't do them for this story... maybe... :P and 2) Thanks for reading, and please please please review! I only got 2 reviews for my last chapter :( You do want me to update, right? Then review! It makes meh happy inside :) :) :) **

**There's the sacred button, CLICK IT!:**

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	6. AN  Sorry But Read

**Hey, so I know I've been keeping you guys waiting for a chapter way too long, so I have an idea. I think I'll take the story down, write out each chapter beforehand, and then when it's finished, post like a chapter a week or something. Okay? **

**So just author-alert me so you'll know when I post the new version, and I'll do my best to get it up as quickly as I can. Kay? Sound good? Alright then, just hit the little author-alert tab, do yourself a favor ;)**

**~ SMARTCUTEFUNNYXD**

**** Okays, change in plans. Thanks to a helpful review from Sweetie7smiled, I'm going to do the following: ****I'll leave the story up while I write the rest of it, and then I'll either post an author's note detailing the link to the new version, or I'll remove the chapters from this one, but keep the story, and re-upload chapters. This way, you'll be able to keep the story alerts you have and I won't lose any fans. Thanks so much Sweetie, veeeery helpful :)**

**** the anonymous reviewer shikha: Well, probably once my life calms down a little and I can find some time to spare for this story. It's not that I don't love it, I just don't have a ton of time right now :(**


	7. AN WTH happened?

**Okay. *cracks knuckles***

**So, I originally put in the previous author's note that I'd try and work on this. Yeah, that didn't happen. I kind of lost interest in writing this story, because of a load of distractions that I was going through at the time. I don't really have any immediate plans for finishing this story, so I'm sorry to disappoint any people who might have been watching this story for, what is it, almost 2 years now? However, I do have a finished chapter that I think I'll post soon, to give you guys one last chapter to read and enjoy. If I find that this story starts calling to me again, I may come back and start working on it, and I'll let you few watchers know, of course. However, I'm unsure of the likeliness of this happening. I really am sorry for this turn of events. I don't like to leave things unfinished, so in the hopes that I don't die soon, I'll finish this one day, probably. Just not soon. No promises, really. Who knows, I might wake up and work on this tomorrow ;) I'm utterly unpredictable. So thank you for sticking with this story for this long, because God knows I probably wouldn't have XP I love all of you (kinda) and wish you the best. So, uh, thanks and good bye... for now.**


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